CHICAGO -- Even if the percentage of Americans who are obese stays the same, diabetes cases will nearly double in the U.S. in the next 25 years and the cost of treating the disease will almost triple, according to a new study by researchers based at the University of Chicago.
The study, published Friday in the journal Diabetes Care, found the number of people with diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes will climb from almost 24 million this year to about 44 million in 2034. Over the same period, annual diabetes-related treatment costs are expected to increase from $113 billion to $336 billion in 2007 dollars.
Dr. Elbert Huang, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, and his colleagues analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the National Health Interview Survey regarding people ages 24 to 85. The study developed a new model of forecasting future direct spending on diabetes.
