Abstract
Aims Aim of the present study is to compare control of hyperglycaemia and other diabetes-related
cardiovascular risk factors during the years 1998 and 2006 and to estimate the change
in the cost of medications prescribed for this purpose.
Methods We compared the medical records of all patients who were regularly followed in three
major diabetes centers located in Athens and Piraeus, Greece, during 1998, with those
who were examined at the same centers during 2006. The cost of medications was calculated
in Euros per patient-year (€PY), using the 2006 official Greek market prices.
Results A total of 1 743 eligible files were included in the study (805 files from 1998 and
938 from 2006). HbA1c , LDL-cholesterol and blood pressure improved significantly in 2006 as compared to
1998 (7.0% vs. 8.1%, 2.9 mmol/l vs. 3.9 mmol/l and 134.9/77.6 mmHg vs. 139.3/80.9 mmHg
respectively, p<0.001 for all comparisons). Treatment of hyperglycaemia was more intense
and had a different pattern in 2006. The proportion of patients receiving antihypertensive,
hypolipidaemic and antiplatelet drugs increased from 48.8% to 74.4%, from 15.2% to
61.2% and from 17.6% to 51.1% respectively (p<0.001 for all comparisons). A highly
significant increase in the cost per patient-year was observed for all classes of
medications in 2006. The total cost of all diabetes-related medications increased
in 2006 by 221.1% (from 341.3±276.0 €PY to 1095.8±634.1 €PY).
Conclusions Control of cardiovascular risk factors of patients with T2D, regularly followed by
diabetes specialists, improved significantly in 2006 as compared to 1998. This improvement,
however, was associated with a considerable increase in the cost of medications prescribed
for treatment of these parameters
References
American Diabetes Association .
Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S..
Diabetes Care.
2003;
26
917-932
Treatment of diabetes with insulin. In Katsilambros N, Diabetes in Clinical Practice . The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. 2006: 371-408
Correspondence
s.liatis@yahoo.com
