Assessment of the Direct Medical Costs of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and its Complications in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To estimate the direct annual medical costs of Type 2 diabetes and its complications in diagnosed patients in Turkey.
Material and Method: A cost-of-illness model was developed. The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes was derived from the Turkish Diabetes Epidemiology Study, estimated as 13.7% in adults, with one-third of patients previously undiagnosed. Complication costs were extracted from the records of 7095 patients at a Turkish tertiary care hospital in 2009. For each modelled complication, acute phase costs were applied to globally derived incidence rates, and one-year follow-up costs were applied to globally derived prevalence rates. Costs and frequencies of ongoing antihyperglycaemic treatment and disease management were derived from treatment guidelines and Turkish hospital records. Parameter variation was performed.
Results: The cost of Type 2 diabetes in diagnosed patients was estimated at between 11.4 to 12.9 billion Turkish Lira, 1% of Gross Domestic Product. Cardiovascular complications comprised the largest share of total medical costs (between 24.3% and 32.6%), followed by renal complications-related costs (between 25% and 28.3%) and concomitant cardiovascular and antihypertensive medication costs (between 14.2% and 16%). Antihyperglycaemic medications and screening costs comprised between 10.9% to 12.3% and between 4.4% to 5% of total costs, respectively.
Discussion: Type 2 diabetes is a disease burden and economic burden in Turkey; the complications cost is higher than the cost of disease control. For preventing complications, any activities effect positively limited resources and also quality of life.