Diabetes: Epidemic in California?

It may appear that I am fixated on diabetes lately, but judging from the most recent brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, we all should. According to this brief, diabetes continue to rise alarmingly in California. The number of people diagnosed with the disease has reached 1.8 million people in 2005, up from 1.5 million in 2001.

The rising number of diagnosed diabetics is a significant problem healthfully and economically. Diabetes, when neglected, spawns complications that eventually lead to kidney disease, blindness, amputations and even death. According to the brief, these complications cost individuals about $1,600 each year, $10,000 of insurance benefits for each benificiary, and a whopping $22.9 billion in treatment costs nationally in 2006.

The brief further revealed that American Indians, Latinos, and Asians (in this order) experience the greatest increase in diabetes prevalence. Although the over-all prevalence is low among Asians, this group demonstrated significant variations between different ethnic groups. Filipinos follow Japanese in having the highest prevalence of diabetes (8.6% to 10.2%) - significantly higher than the 6.5% prevalence rate for Asians in general. Interestingly, the brief also noted that among adults born outside the United States, those who lived in the country the longest also showed the highest diabetes rates.

The brief contains interesting data on the distribution and status of diabetes in California from which county has the most diabetic population to which group are likely to get foot and eye exams related to diabetes. The effects of poverty level, education, and insurance coverage on the treatment and outcome of diabetes are also discussed in the brief. And most importantly, the brief talks about existing health policies that are likely to influence the status of diabetes in California.

The health policy brief in its entirety can be viewed in this link: http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/pubs/files/Diabetes_Epidemic_PB_082207.pdf.