Diabetes costs to Ontario’s economy ‘staggering’: Report
September 8, 2010
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Jayme Poisson
STAFF REPORTER
Diabetes is costing Ontario $4.9 billion per year according to the Canadian Diabetes Association.
And if nothing is done about it, the association says those costs will rise to $7 billion per year by 2020.
“The economic burden of diabetes in Ontario is staggering and threatens the sustainability of our health care system and the provincial economy,” said president and CEO Michael Cloutier in a statement.
Direct costs like hospitalization and doctor visits account for about 22 per cent of the total figure, while indirect costs make up the rest.
According to Robin Somerville, an economist for the Ontario-based Centre for Spatial Economics, these include the costs of disability leave to businesses and individuals for those too sick to work, as well as lost productivity.
Findings released in Wednesday’s report show a sharp rise in both the cost and prevalence of the disease over the past decade. In 2000 there were 546,000 diagnosed with the disease.
According to the report, an estimated 1.2 million people, or 8.2 per cent of the population, are currently diagnosed with type one or two diabetes in Ontario. By 2020 that number is expected to rise to 1.9 million.
The figure does not include undiagnosed people or those living with pre-diabetes, where blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for an individual to be diagnosed with the disease.
“One in four Ontarians will be living either with diabetes or prediabetes by 2020,” said Cloutier, adding that turning the tide would require a significant change in government and private sector approaches, as well as sweeping changes in attitudes.
The association recommends that governments focus on three things: Prevention, targeting at-risk populations and working to prevent complications of the disease.
“We need to focus on how we think about and approach diabetes management and prevention in our province,” added Cloutier.
This is the second provincial cost-model report released by the Canadian Diabetes Association this year. The first was in May for New Brunswick and had similar findings. The association will continue to roll out cost-models across the country.
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