Treatment of diabetes costs SFr1 billion per year

Experts says a simple blood sugar test could help with the early diagnosis of diabetes Keystone Archive

The annual bill for the treatment of diabetics in Switzerland is more than SFr1 billion, according to a new study.

Research conducted by doctors at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine in Zurich indicates that more than 250,000 Swiss are currently registered as severely diabetic.

The survey of nearly 1500 diabetics in Switzerland revealed that the average cost of treatment per patient works out at SFr3500 each year.

Diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body is unable to produce insulin or cannot properly use the insulin it does produce.

The disease is divided into two types. Type one generally occurs in young patients, while type two is more severe and is often associated with people who are overweight.

The publication of the report coincides with the release of statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), which suggest that the number of diabetics worldwide is likely to increase from 150 to 300 million by 2025.

Link to obesity

According to the study conducted by Swiss researchers, 20,000 new cases of diabetes are registered in Switzerland alone every year.

Roger Lehmann, a surgeon at the University of Zurich hospital, told swissinfo the increase was directly linked to the rise in the number of cases of obesity.

“The degree of obesity has doubled in almost all industrial countries over the last two decades,” Lehmann said.

“In Switzerland, 30-35 per cent of people are overweight,” he added.

Lehmann says many cases of diabetes are diagnosed after a “delay of about eight to ten years”, which leads to the need for more complicated – and expensive – medical treatment.

“The problem is that unless you test for high blood sugar, you don’t feel anything and don’t have any problems,” he explained.

Focus on prevention

Felix Gutzwiller, of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, says the annual cost of treatment could be reduced by educating the public about the causes of the disease.

“Early detection is important in order to prevent long-term problems such as amputations and other costly surgical interventions in the late stage of the disease,” Gutzwiller said in an interview with swissinfo.

Medical experts suggest Switzerland’s health care system is geared more towards the treatment than the detection of diabetes.

“We are not as aggressive as some other countries, particularly Anglo-Saxon countries, with regard to early detection and intervention,” commented Gutzwiller.

“We still have a sizeable portion of people with diabetes who don’t realise they have the disease, [which suggests] that the routine of early detection could certainly be improved.”

New treatments

While doctors are focusing their attention on early prevention, Swiss pharmaceutical companies are investing in a programme of research into new treatments for the disease.

In November last year, healthcare group Roche acquired the US-based Amira Medical Company, which is working with the Swiss company to develop new ways of helping diabetics to monitor their glucose sugar levels.

The Disetronic company of Burgdorf near the Swiss capital, Bern, has also established itself in recent years as the world’s leading supplier of insulin pumps for diabetics.

“There is a lot of excitement in the new technology,” Gutzwiller said, “which will help us to control the disease even better.”

by Ramsey Zarifeh and Vanessa Mock