Saturday, April 14, 2007

AACE: Type 2 Diabetes Complications Exact Heavy Tolls

Nearly a third of the estimated 18 million Americans with type 2 diabetes have from chronic kidney disease, and about 20% have diabetic eye disease and foot problems, a surveillance report shows.
Microvascular and macrovascular complications from type 2 diabetes account for nearly $23 billion in direct medical costs, according to the report, titled State of Diabetes Complications in America, released by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists at its 2007 meeting here.
"On the national level, an estimated three out of five people with diabetes (57.9%) have one or more of the complications associated with diabetes," the report states. "These health problems are taking a heavy toll on the U.S. financially."
The report was developed by the AACE in partnership with the Amputee Coalition of America, the cardiac support group Mended Hearts, the National Federation of the Blind, and the National Kidney Foundation.
It melded data from the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) with medical expenditure information from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality and the National Center for Health Statistics.

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