What drives the rising cost of diabetes in urban China?
In 44,994 urban Chinese patients, mean annual diabetes-related medical costs rose from $1,293 (2014) to $2,093 (2019); hospitalization multiplied cost 2.23× and cardiovascular/kidney complications added ~65%/54%.
Source
Trends in economic burden of type 2 diabetes in China: Based on longitudinal claim data
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cohort — Longitudinal urban Chinese health-insurance claims 2014–2019 for people diagnosed with diabetes before January 2015; regression of DM cost on hospitalization and complications.
- N
- N=44994 · 44,994 patients (47% men; mean age 65.3); 89% UEBMI.
- Population
- Urban patients with diabetes in one eastern Chinese city, identified from the official health-management system.
- Outcome
- Annual diabetes-related direct medical cost (DM cost) and effects of hospitalization and six complication groups.
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Inspect source passages
What drives the rising cost of diabetes in urban China?
These passages occur verbatim in the stored paper text. They support the points listed below; they do not verify every statement in the explanation.
N = 44,994 patients with diabetes.
Our research included 44,994 patients with diabetes
Mean annual DM cost rose from 1,292.72 to 2,092.87 USD.
the average annual DM costs for diabetic patients increased from 1,292.72 USD in 2014 to 2,092.87 USD in 2019
What they did
Pulled 2014–2019 claims for everyone diagnosed with diabetes before 2015 in one eastern city, classified six ICD-10 complication groups, described stratified DM costs, and used clustered multiple linear regression (exponentiated β as cost multipliers).
What they found
Complications prevalence rose from 58.9% (2014) to 91.9% (2019). Cost AAGR was 10.12%. Hospitalized patients’ 2019 mean cost was $4,524 vs $1,172 without admission. Cost scaled with complication count (1.83× to 7.53× vs none). Cardiovascular (+65%) and nephropathy (+54%) were the priciest types.
The limits
What it doesn't show
One city and insurance claims miss informal care and undiagnosed diabetes; observational multipliers are not causal proof that preventing one complication saves exactly 54–65%; coding intensity may rise over time.
Key terms
- DM cost
- Diabetes-related direct medical cost from claims, including complication-related care.
- UEBMI / URRBMI
- Urban employee vs urban-rural resident basic medical insurance schemes covering this cohort.
- Hospitalization multiplier
- Average annual DM cost 2.23 times higher with vs without inpatient care.
- Complication count
- Number of six ICD-10 complication groups; more groups meant steeply higher cost.
- AAGR
- Average annual growth rate of mean DM cost (10.12% here).
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Common questions
How many patients?
44,994 people with diabetes.
Cost change 2014–2019?
From 1,292.72 to 2,092.87 USD per year on average.
Hospitalization effect?
2.23 times the DM cost of non-hospitalized patients.
Costliest complications?
Cardiovascular (+65%) and nephropathy (+54%).
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