Excess costs of diabetes in the Aboriginal population of Manitoba

OBJECTIVEWe developed a measure of the cost of diabetes for general and North American Indian populations of Manitoba and estimated the excess costs of diabetes which are attributable to diabetes prevalence rates and per person utilization of health services.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSWe obtained data from the Manitoba Medicare database and the Manitoba Diabetes Database. We estimated costs for each service and cost per person for four populations: Indian and general population groups with and without diabetes. Excess cost formulas were estimated.RESULTSPrevalence and utilization were considerably higher for the North American Indian population. As a first approximation, excess costs due to disease prevalence added 15.9% to total costs, while excess costs due to utilization add 14.6%.CONCLUSIONSDisease prevalence indicates a need to focus on primary preventive measures. High utilization indicates complications, and suggests a need for secondary prevention.