Nearly one-third of hospitalizations of people 35 and older in Ventura County in 2011 involved patients with diabetes, says a study released Thursday.
The average hospital stay for California patients with diabetes cost $2,200 more than care for patients without the disease, according to the statewide study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. The hospital stays linked to the disease in Ventura County brought $32 million in additional costs, researchers said.
State data used in the study showed 14,571 hospital stays in the county involved diabetics in their mid-30s or older, making up 28.3 percent of all hospitalizations.
Statewide, the numbers are even more jarring: 31 percent of hospital stays were linked to diabetes at an estimated additional cost of $1.6 billion.
“It blew me away,” said Harold Goldstein, executive director of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, which initiated the study. “Diabetes is having an overwhelming impact on the health care system in California and health care costs.”
The study focused on patients with Type 1 diabetes and Type 2, which makes up about 95 percent of diagnoses and is preventable. Many of them were not being treated for diabetes but for other conditions.
“Diabetes is a very complicated disease that affects most body systems,” said Goldstein of a condition linked to heart disease, nerve disorders, amputations, hypertension, blindness, vascular disease, kidney failure and other problems. “Even if someone is in the hospital because they got hit by a car, the wounds will be magnitudes more difficult to heal because of diabetes.”
The nearly 1-3 ratio may shock some, but doctors, hospital leaders and others showed no surprise.
“Actually, 28 percent is lower than I would have expected,” said Cyndie Cole, administrator for the Ventura County Medical Center, citing a disease that tripled in incidence from 1980 to 2010.
According to the study, about 10 percent of Ventura County residents 35 or older said they have been diagnosed with diabetes. Experts say a hospitalization rate almost three times that figure reflects all of the other conditions linked to disease.
“People can go along with diabetes for years and not get anything,” said Dr. Ronald Chochinov, a Ventura endocrinologist. “Then the kidneys go. These things happen and it’s, ‘Oh, why did this happen to me?’ It’s a difficult disease to get people to take seriously.”
Costs cited in the study were calculated from information provided by hospitals to the California Office of Statewide Health Planning & Development. The data has in the past caused controversy because it reflects what hospitals bill and not what insurers pay. Researchers said they adjusted the data to try to reflect actual costs.
Hospital officials said they could not comment on the accuracy of the figures but acknowledge that care for diabetics is more expensive. The higher costs occur because treatment of diabetics often involves care for several conditions, Cole said.
“If you’re a diabetic, you run the risk of having all these things come along,” she said. “It just goes hand in hand.”
Diabetes is a huge contributor to higher health care costs, Goldstein said. The study shows about three-quarters of California’s diabetes hospitalizations in 2011 were covered by government insurance.
“We’re all paying for it,” Goldstein said.
The vast majority of diabetes cases can be prevented or controlled through exercise, diet, stress management and proper medication, said Dr. Sarfraz Zaidi, a Thousand Oaks endocrinologist.
“People have to take charge of their health,” he said. “They’re the ones who can change their lifestyles.”
Goldstein, who leads an advocacy center that fights childhood obesity, called for insurers to cover screenings and education for pre-diabetes. He urged people to drink water instead of a 20-ounce soda with 16 teaspoons of sugar. He called for a change to a world where fast-food restaurants dot every corner.
“How has that changed in the last 20 years?” he said. “When I look around, the world is encouraging me even more to make unhealthy choices.”
Edwin Velarde, of Moorpark, was diagnosed 23 years ago with Type 1 diabetes, which can be controlled but usually cannot be prevented. He’s an endurance cyclist who watches his diet and has decreased his insulin medication by 68 percent.
He sees the high hospitalization rate as a reflection of a world where carbohydrates rule and people spend day after day sitting in an office.
“It actually scares me,” he said of the 28 percent rate in Ventura County. “It doesn’t surprise me.”
Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2014/may/14/study-finds-28-of-ventura-county-linked-to/#ixzz31o9cicHN
- vcstar.com
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