The true cost of managing diabetes is related to complications. The figures are staggering. The U.S. spends billions of dollars annually treating retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy. People with diabetes are more likely to require limb amputations, laser eye surgeries, and experience kidney failure. Emergency rooms across the country are constantly treating people with diabetes who are having difficulty controlling their blood sugars.
Research has shown that if glucose levels are strictly managed, complications can be postponed up to 15 years.
Better glucose control means better health - with a tremendous potential to lower the overall cost of care for members with diabetes. Indeed, in basic terms, each 1% increase in a person's HbA1C (above 6%) can increase the cost of diabetes management by as much as $800 per year.1 That's a lot of money. And glucose levels can be strictly managed - How? - with Medtronic Diabetes insulin pump therapy.
Control Costs - Control Complications
The landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), funded by the National Institutes of Health, demonstrated that intensive management of glucose levels in Type 1 patients reduces HbA1C, which in turn reduces complications:2
- Retinopathy (eye disease) by up to 76%
- Nephropathy (kidney disease) by up to 56%
- Neuropathy (nerve disease) by 69%
Numerous clinical studies demonstrate the most effective method of intensive management for diabetes is insulin pump therapy. One report revealed a 6-fold reduction in severe hypoglycemic events for patients who switched from multiple injections to an insulin pump.3
How is this possible? Why is pump therapy so much more effective than injection therapy? The answer is simple - pumps use faster-acting insulin, which is very predictable - like a pancreas - and pumps deliver insulin in small, controlled doses - like a pancreas. Whereas injection therapy uses long-acting insulin, which studies have shown is very unpredictable - resulting in unpredictable blood sugars.
The bottom line
Medtronic Diabetes insulin pump therapy can bring better health to the patient and save substantial health care dollars in a way no other technology-based diabetes product can match.
- 1
- Gilmer TP, O'Connor PJ, Manning WG, Rush WA, The cost to health plans of poor glycemic control., Diabetes Care, 20: 12, 1847-53, Dec, 1997.
- 2
- Diabetes Control and Complications Trial Research Group (DCCT): Lifetime Benefits and Costs of Intensive Therapy as Practiced in the DCCT. JAMA, 1996;276:1409-1415.
- 3
- Bode BW, Steed RD, Davidson PD: Reduction in severe hypoglycemia with long-term continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion in type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care, 1996;19:324-327.