Diabetes
What drives the rising cost of diabetes in urban China?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
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%.
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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Key findings
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.
Methodology
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).
Limitations
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.
How this study connects
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