Abstract
Healthcare-related expenditure for diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate all over the world, resulting in a huge burden on patients. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to estimate the healthcare cost incurred by patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The study included 531 registered patients with diabetes of more than 1 year. All the treatment-related records of the last 12 months were collected from the patients’ guide books. Data were analyzed to determine the average cost (exchange rate: US$1 = Bangladeshi Taka 80) incurred by the diabetic patients in treating the disease and were calculated based on the total amount spent by them to that of total number of patients. The mean ± SD age of the patients (male 46.5 % and female 53.5 %) was 53.0 ± 10 years with duration of diabetes 9 ± 6.7 years. The average annual cost of care was US$314 (direct cost US$283 and indirect cost US$31). Drugs accounted for the largest share (68 %) of the direct cost, followed by laboratory investigations (12.5 %) and consultation fees (11.7 %). Results of bivariate analysis showed that the annual direct cost of care significantly increased with age, monthly household income, duration of diabetes, and the number of co-morbidities/complications. However, results of multivariable analysis showed that, except age, all other remained significant (p < 0.001) explanatory variable of direct cost. The annual cost of diabetes care per person in the outpatient department of a tertiary care facility was US$314. Based on this finding, it is estimated that the total annual burden of some 5.1 million diabetic patients will be US$1.5 billion, which is a large burden for a developing country like Bangladesh. Primary prevention should be in focus to combat the economic burden of diabetes.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
International Diabetes Federation. Diabetes atlas, 6th edition, IDF diabetes atlas: www.idf.org/diabetesatlas. ISBN: 2-930229-85-3.
Hussain A, Vaaler S, Sayeed MA, et al. Type 2 diabetes and impaired fasting blood glucose in rural Bangladesh: a population based study. Eur J Pub Health. 2007;17(3):291–6.
Rahim MA, Hussain A, Khan AKA, et al. Rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes in rural Bangladesh: a population based study. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2007;77:300–5.
Hussain A, Rahim MA, Khan AKA, et al. Type 2 diabetes in rural and urban population: diverse prevalence and associated risk factors in Bangladesh. Diabet Med. 2005;22:931–6.
Sayeed MA, Mahtab H, Khanam PA, et al. Diabetes and impaired fasting glycemia in a rural population of Bangladesh. Diabetes Care. 2003;26:1034–9.
Sayeed MA, Ali L, Hossain MZ, et al. Effect of socioeconomic risk factors on the difference in prevalence of diabetes between rural and urban population of Bangladesh. Diabetes Care. 1997;20:551–5.
Sayeed MA, Khan AR, Banu A, Hussain MZ. Prevalence of diabetes and hypertension in a rural population of Bangladesh. Diabetes Care. 1995;18:555–8.
Mahtab H, Ibrahim M, Banik NG, et al. Diabetes detection survey in a rural and semi-urban community in Bangladesh. Tohoku J Exp Med. 1983;141:211–7.
Sayeed MA, Hossain MZ, Banu A, et al. Prevalence of diabetes in a suburban population of Bangladesh. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 1997;34:149–5.
Barcelo A, Aedo C, Rajpathak S, Robles S. The cost of diabetes in Latin America and the Caribbean. Bull World Health Organ. 2003;81:19–27.
Shobhana R, Rao PR, Lavanya A, Williams R, Padman C, Vijay V, et al. Cost incurred by families having Type 1 diabetes in a developing country—a study from Southern India. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2002;55:45–8.
American Diabetes Association. Economic consequences of diabetes mellitus in the United States in 1997. Diabetes Care. 1998;21:296–309.
Hart WM, Espinosa C, Rovira J. Cost of unknown diabetes mellitus in Spain. Med Clin (Barcelona). 1997;109:289–93.
Gray AM, Fenn P. The cost of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in England and Wales. Diabet Med. 1995;12:1068–76.
American Diabetes Association. Economic costs of diabetes in the U.S. in 2012. Diabetes Care. 2013;36:1033–3.
Morkrid K, Ali L, Hussain A. Risk factors and prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy: a study of type 2 diabetic outpatients in Bangladesh. Int J Diabet Dev Ctries. 2010;30:11.
DAB: Statistical Year Book vol. July 2013- June 2014. Dhaka: diabetic association of Bangladesh. 2014. web version www.dab-bd.org.
Moore R. Economic burden of illness in Canada: Canadian public health association for health Canada. 1993.
Wikipidia. List of minimum wages by country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_by_country. (Accessed 28 February 2014)
Wang W, McGreevey WP, Fu C, Zhan S, Luan R, Chen W, et al. Type 2 diabetes mellitus in China: a preventable economic burden. Am J Manag Care. 2009;15(9):593–1.
Khowaja LA, Khuwaja AK, Cosgrove P. Cost of diabetes care in out-patient clinics of Karachi, Pakistan. BMC Health Serv Res. 2007;7(1):189. doi:10.1186/1472-6963-7-189.
Kapur A. Economic analysis of diabetes care. Indian J Med Res. 2007;125(3):473–2.
Grover S, Avasthi A, Bhansali A, Chakrabarti S, Kulhara P. Cost of ambulatory care of diabetes mellitus: a study from north India. Postgrad Med J. 2005;81(956):391–5.
Dall T, Nikolov P, Hogan P. Economic costs of diabetes in the US in 2002. Diabetes Care. 2003;26:917–2.
Oddvar S, Trond J, Ivar K. Diabetes: cost of illness in Norway. BMC Endocrine Disorders. 2010, 10:15, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6823/10/15.
Nolan J, O’halloran D, McKenna T, Firth R, Redmond S. The cost of treating type 2 diabetes (CODEIRE). Ir Med J. 2006;99(10):307.
Dawson KG, Gomes D, Gerstein H, Blanchard JF, Kahler KH. The economic cost of diabetes in Canada, 1998. Diabetes Care. 2002;25(8):1303–7.
Köster I, Von Ferber L, Ihle P, Schubert I, Hauner H. The cost burden of diabetes mellitus: the evidence from Germany—the CoDiM Study. Diabetologia. 2006;49(7):1498–4.
December 2010. Bangladesh national health accounts (BNHA-III) 1997-2007 (Part 1). Ministry of health and family welfare.
Kirigia J, Sambo H, Sambo L, Barry S. Economic burden of diabetes mellitus in the WHO African region. BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2009;9(1):6. doi:10.1186/1472-698X-9-6.
Rayappa P, Raju K, Kapur A, Bjork S, Sylvest C, Dilip KK. Economic cost of diabetes care: the Bangalore urban district diabetes study. Int J Diab Dev Countries. 1999;19(3):87–6.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorder (BIRDEM), a comprehensive care hospital of the Diabetic Association of Bangladesh, Dhaka and all the T2DM patients of the study for their kind contribution. We also grateful to Mr. M. Shamsul Islam Khan for his kind contribution.
Conflict of interest
The authors (AA, SHH, MS, HAC, DP, MAH, MNH, LA) report no relationship or financial interest with any entity that would pose a conflict of interest with the subject matter of this article.
Authorship information
Concept and design (AA, MNS, LA); acquisition of data (AA, SHH, HAC, DP); analysis and interpretation of data (AA, MS, MAH, MNS, LA); drafting of the manuscript (AA, HAC, DP); drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content (AA, MAH, LA); final approval of the version to be submitted (AA, MNS, LA).
Funding source
This study was supported by Bangladesh Diabetic Somiti.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Afroz, A., Habib, S.H., Chowdhury, H.A. et al. Healthcare cost of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Bangladesh: a hospital-based study. Int J Diabetes Dev Ctries 36, 235–241 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-015-0434-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-015-0434-9