<p> Since the recognition of diabetes over 200 years ago, key fundamental breakthroughs have improved our understanding of the disease process and shaped the design of interventions for effective management. Unfortunately, the sky-rocketing increases in the number of persons with diabetes have slowed advances made in this field. Experts project that if current trends continue, one of every three U.S. adults will have diabetes by 2050. In the view of many researchers, the implications of this increase, along with a concomitant rise in diabetic complications, are profound. They indicate that this diabetic trend will result in increasing hospitalizations, disabilities and health care costs, as well as reduced quality of life and workforce productivity. </p><p> Understanding the triad of diabetes, hospitalization and work-productivity losses is therefore very important from a health policy perspective. To date, no study has examined the relationship between diabetes, the likelihood of hospitalization and the combined effect on labor force participation. Using a quantitative model and review of literature, this study 1) explores the impact of interventions designed to prevent and treat diabetes, 2) analyzes work-force productivity impacts, such as presenteeism and absenteeism, of diabetes-related acute events and 3) projects the growth of prevalence of diabetes in children 0-17 years. </p><p> The findings from this research are manifold: 1) For persons with diabetes, early enrolment in a chronic disease management intervention—before the development comorbidities that can aggravate the disease state—can delay the occurrence of any acute event necessitating hospitalization, emergency room visits and observations. 2) Diabetes results in significant productivity losses. In the cohort assessed, the productivity loss within a one-year period was about $2 million and approximately 20,000 lost workdays. Additional research is needed to elucidate the best approach to reduce presenteeism caused by diabetes. 3) By 2030 the number of children with diabetes will almost double the current children with diabetes population. Minority children will continue to bear a larger burden of the diabetes epidemic. The implications of this overall increase are enormous, especially with regard to more people having and managing diabetes for most of their lives.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3559169 |
| Date | 25 May 2013 |
| Creators | Adepoju, Omolola Elizabeth |
| Publisher | The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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