New York, NY, USA - An 18-year old diabetic person is expected to live an additional 43.4 years of healthy life-11.1 years less than a non-diabetic person of the same age-according to a study by Columbia University in New York, NY and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
By calculating disease-related quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) loss, which takes into account things such as premature death and long-term nonfatal outcomes due to chronic diseases, the researchers examined lifetime effects of 5 chronic conditions (diabetes, hypertension, asthma, heart disease, and stroke)-from 1993 to 2009 for the entire United States and for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The study ranked these five diseases from the most QALE loss to the least QALE loss as: stroke (12.4 years lost), diabetes mellitus (11.1 years lost), heart disease (10.3 years lost), asthma (7.0 years lost), and high blood pressure (6.3 years lost). Using diabetes mellitus as an example, about two thirds of its QALE loss was due to premature death. The data show that diabetes affects patients’ health both during early adulthood as well as later adulthood and women with diabetes lost 3.9 more years of QALE than men with diabetes.
“For public health planning, policymakers should be able to quantify the lifetime burden of specific diseases and estimate the optimal reduction in burden of disease for specific disease by implementing effective public health policies and programs.” said Haomiao Jia, PhD, associate professor at Columbia University, and first author of the study, “
The Effects of Diabetes, Hypertension, Asthma, Heart Disease, and Stroke on Quality-Adjusted Life Expectancy,” published in
Value in Health.
Value in Health (ISSN 1098-3015) publishes papers, concepts, and ideas that advance the field of pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research as well as policy papers to help health care leaders make evidence-based decisions. The journal is published bi-monthly and has over 8,000 subscribers (clinicians, decision-makers, and researchers worldwide).
International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) is a nonprofit, international, educational and scientific organization that strives to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and fairness of health care resource use to improve health.
For more information: www.ispor.org