In an article published this week in the Journal American Medical Association Network (JAMA Network) by Edward W. Gregg, PhD1,2; Israel Hora, PhD1; Stephen R. Benoit, MD1 risks of lower extremity amputation, kidney failure, and cardiovascular events along with hospital admissions among patients diagnosed with diabetes are on the rise as compared to the 10 previous years.
In the early 90’s the life span of patients with diabetes was reduced by 7 to 10 years due to diabetes related health complications. Through improvements in care, care integration, self-management, and education, the mid 90’s through 2010 saw a 28% drop in risk, representing a significant improvement.
In a new review of the national statics and epidemiology literature, from 2010 to 2015, a noted surge in diabetes related complications has eaten away about 33% of the gains through 2010. Most notable was the increase in hospital admission, which increase by 73% from 15.3 to 26.6 per 1000.
Later this spring Abacus Health will release a decade long propensity score matched study of individuals enrolled in the Abacus Diabetes Care Reward Program through their employer. Early results from the study, that were shared publicly for the first time at the Arthur J Gallagher healthcare niche conference last week, showed members enrolled in the program had 30% fewer hospital admissions than those who were not enrolled. Additional results of the study include 27% few hospital days, a 44% greater adherence to a semi annual HbA1c, and a 17% decrease in members with an A1c >9.
