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Study: Diabetes prevention saves money in long run

Quality Improvement Monitor, March 3, 2005

A new study in the March <i>Annals of Internal Medicine</i> is the first to show that it would be cost-effective to try to prevent diabetes in people with a condition known as "pre-diabetes," or impaired glucose tolerance, which in turn would reduce future healthcare costs.

The new research shows that the costs of diabetes prevention are well within the range that American society has previously accepted for other preventive and curative health efforts. The authors, led by a diabetes researcher from the University of Michigan Health System, conclude that American health policy should immediately begin promoting diabetes prevention in high-risk people.

An estimated 41 million Americans have the pre-diabetes condition, in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal. Pre-diabetes is closely linked to obesity.

The study findings are based on sophisticated computer modeling of data from a large national clinical trial completed in 2001. It showed that in just three years, a one-on-one weight loss and exercise program substantially reduced the chance that a person with pre-diabetes would develop diabetes.

Researchers also showed that a diabetes drug called metformin can have a smaller, but still significant, preventive effect.

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