With rising health care costs, Fairfield County doctors are adamant about the importance of diabetes awareness.
In information released last week by the American Diabetes Association, diabetes cost America $174 billion in 2007.
About $116 billion of the overall diabetes price tag is for medical expenditures, with the other $58 billion coming from indirect costs like absenteeism and disease-related unemployment disability.
“The impact is huge for the cost of diabetes in health care today,” said John Cappiello, spokesman for Bridgeport Hospital.
According to the American Diabetes Association, one out of every five American health care dollars is spent caring for someone diagnosed with diabetes.
“There are rare cases of when you can actually get rid of diabetes,” said Dr. Stuart Zarich, chief of cardiology at Bridgeport Hospital.
According to Zarcih, most people with diabetes go three to five years before they are diagnosed. With proper diagnosis, complications, which cause the majority of the extreme costs, would be diminished, and savings would be diverted to areas of medicine.
According to Zarich, many of the 20.8 million Americans who currently are diagnosed with diabetes could have avoided amputations and prevented kidney and heart problems through proper diagnosis and active screening programs.
“Early recognition and early treatment are important, but a healthy life is really the crux of the issue,” said Zarich.
Medical professionals say diabetes has become such a monster of a medical problem because of the amount of treatment required and continuous nature of the illness.
According to Zarich, no matter how carefully, a type 1 or type 2 diabetic monitors blood sugar or measures insulin, he or she is still fighting a ticking clock. “Nearly all diabetics will eventually have complications,” he said.
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