Slowing diabetic kidney disease progression may cut health costs for veterans
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Key takeaways:
- The cost of care increased as the disease progressed.
- Mean per-patient per-month costs increased from $1,597 in stage 1 chronic kidney disease to $6,999 in stage 5 CKD.
Slowing the progression to advanced diabetic kidney disease could lower the economic impact of the condition and help health care systems optimize resources, recently published data show.
Diabetic kidney disease characterizes “the onset of [chronic kidney disease] CKD as a complication of diabetes based on diagnostic criteria such as symptoms, signs, and laboratory data,” Kibum Kim, BPharm, PhD, of the University of Illinois Chicago, wrote with colleagues. “Kidney disease imposes a significant burden to Veterans Health Administration,” with CKD affecting “[one out of six] veterans, which continues to increase as a result of the high prevalence of diabetes approaching 25% of the VA population.”
Researchers studied 685,288 patients with diabetic kidney disease to quantify the burden of care in different stages and monitor health costs. Using data from the Veterans Affairs national database, investigators included U.S. veterans diagnosed with diabetes between 2016 and 2022. The cohort was 96.51% men; 74.42% of patients were white and 93.54% were categorized as being non-Hispanic. All-cause monthly health costs were summarized with descriptive statistics.
The cost of care increased as the disease progressed, according to the findings. Mean per-patient-per-month costs were $1,597, $1,772, $2,857, $3,722, $5,505 and $6,999 for stages 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 4 and 5, respectively. Patients on chronic dialysis had an average monthly expenditure of $12,299, Kim and colleagues noted, with costs peaking at $38,359 during the first month of kidney replacement therapy before decreasing to $6,636 after a year.
“[Diabetic kidney disease] DKD represents a formidable clinical and economic burden in the U.S.,” they wrote. “Health care costs, correspondingly, increased monotonically with higher DKD stages. The findings of this study could provide valuable insights for health care providers, policymakers and stakeholders in optimizing care and resource allocation for DKD patients.”
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