WEDNESDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) -- The number of Americans who receive medical treatment for diabetes has more than doubled since 1996, and so have expenditures related to the treatment of the disease, according to a statistical brief released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): "Trends in Use and Expenditures for Diabetes among Adults 18 and Older, U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population, 1996 and 2007."
Anita Soni, Ph.D., of the AHRQ in Rockville, Md., and colleagues collected data from the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and 2007 Full Year Consolidated Files, as well as files on medical conditions, office-based medical provider visits, outpatient visits, hospital inpatient stays, home health, emergency room visits, and prescribed medicines to estimate the annual rate of treatment for diabetes in the United States and the yearly expenditure by type of service.
The researchers found that the number of adults who reported receiving treatment for diabetes in 2007 doubled since 1996, from 9.1 million to 19 million. Medical spending on treatment rose from $18.5 billion (in 2007 dollars) to $40.8 billion, spending on ambulatory care rose from $4.9 billion to $9.8 billion, and mean annual prescription expenditures saw a more than two-fold increase, from $495 to $1,048 per person.
"This Statistical Brief presents estimates, based on the Household Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, of use and expenditures for ambulatory care and prescribed medications to treat diabetes among the U.S. adult civilian noninstitutionalized population," the authors write.
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