Brussels, Belgium, Tuesday 28 September 1999: The first pan-European study to evaluate the overall cost of individuals with type 2 diabetes reveals that urgent action is needed to reduce the devastating long-term complications of the disease, if costs are to be kept under control.

"We are facing a potential crisis," warned Professor Massimo Massi-Benedetti, President of the International Diabetes Federation, European region, "the key to improving the quality of life of people with type 2 diabetes and to reducing future costs is to address the long-term complications of the disease."

Initial results from the CODE-2* (Costs of Diabetes in Europe--Type 2) study were presented today at a press briefing at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Brussels:

• The total cost of more than 10 million individuals with type 2 diabetes in the countries studied was 29 billion Euros, which represents up to 7.4% or an average of 5% of the total healthcare expenditure in each country.
• The overall cost to the healthcare system of an individual with type 2 diabetes is on average over 1.5 times higher than the general population.
• Individuals with type 2 diabetes who have either small blood vessel complications, such as nerve damage or kidney problems, or large blood vessel complications, such as coronary heart disease, are twice as expensive to treat as individuals with no evidence of complications.
• The presence of both types of complications increases costs by 3.5 times.
• Hospitalisation costs, which include the treatment of long-term complications such as heart disease, account for 30-65% of the overall costs of patients with the disease--the largest proportion of costs.
• Oral anti-diabetes medicines, which are the first line of type 2 diabetes treatment with medication, account for a relatively lower proportion of overall costs--only 2.7% of the total costs.
• Other drugs, including insuli
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