Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a growing epidemic and the cost of treating diabetes is increasing disproportionately. The objective of this study was to evaluate the costs of illness for Type II DM in the out-patient diabetes clinic of a medical college hospital. A prevalence-based Cost-of-illness study for diabetes care was conducted in the diabetes clinic of Medical College, Calicut, Kerala from December, 2009 to April, 2010. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to collect data from 191 randomly selected persons with diabetes. The annual mean direct cost for each person with diabetes was estimated to be Indian rupees Rs. Medicines accounted for the largest share of direct cost (76.25 %), followed by laboratory investigations (5.17 %). We found that increased age, the number of complications and the longer duration of the disease significantly increased the burden of the disease on the society (p < 0.001). Comparing cost with family income it was found that the poorest section of the society is spending 18% of total family income on diabetes care. This study concluded that substantial expenditure is incurred by people with diabetes; with the implication that resources could be saved by prevention, earlier detection and a reduction of diabetes co-morbidities and complications through improved diabetes care. Large scale and cost-effective prevention programs need to be initiated to maximize health gains and to reverse the cost implications of this epidemic.
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