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There is currently no diabetes registry or other way to monitor the costs associated with diabetes in Ireland. The dated type 2 diabetes-related CODEIRE study suggests that costs associated with diabetes account for between 4-6% of Ireland’s annual healthcare expenditure (€377.2 million-€580.2 million in 2006). Analysis undertaken by Diabetes Ireland has indicated that if the same expenditure percentage is applied to healthcare expenses in 2019 (€23.8 bn overall health expenditure, of which €17.6 bn was funded by the government), it is envisaged that the Irish government would spend €700m-€1bn annually on the management of diabetes and its complications. When including out-of-pocket expenses and private care, overall costs associated with diabetes are estimated to approx. €1 bn-€1.4 bn. There is a pressing need for updated and finite data.
The objective of this study is to explore the individual costs related to diabetes amongst a sample of adults with the condition, namely Diabetes Ireland members, registered electronic newsletter recipients and social media viewers. The micro-costing analysis will explore cost variations between groups of different demographics, clinical, and socio-economic status, and consider their resource use and private costs related to publicly funded healthcare services (primary, secondary and tertiary care), privately funded healthcare, use of services provided by voluntary organisations and family members, private time and transport costs, and impact on labour market productivity including absenteeism and presentism.
This study may be a first stage in a potentially longer-term research endeavour and the results will inform future research plans. Subsequent phases may use different principles to administer different versions of the cost-questionnaire. For example, participants may be asked to complete a series of questionnaires and thus provide longitudinal data. Based on the initial experiences, the developed questionnaire may also undergo a revision to capture more nuanced, patient-centred data.
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