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Diabetes complications swelling U.S. health costs
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Poorly managed type 2 diabetes costs the U.S. health system an extra $22.9 billion a year in direct medical costs to treat heart, eye, kidney and other serious health problems associated with the disease, diabetes groups reported on Tuesday.

“About 20.8 million Americans have diabetes, which causes about 5 percent of all deaths globally each year.”

Annual health costs for a type 2 diabetic are three times that of the average American without diagnosed diabetes, according to a new report called State of Diabetes Complications in America.

“It is a pretty significant wake-up call for people, or should be. It really points out the importance of managing the disease,” said Willard Manning, a health economist at the University of Chicago who worked on the report. Source

Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug May Help Treat Type 2 Diabetes
WEDNESDAY, April 11 (HealthDay News) — A drug designed to treat juvenile rheumatoid arthritis may also be helpful for managing type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.

The study found that daily injections of anakinra led to a drop in long-term levels of glucose in the blood, while they increased in people given a placebo.

“We (showed) that a 13-week treatment with anakinra improves glucose regulation and insulin production in people with type 2 diabetes,” said one of the study’s authors, Dr. Marc Donath, an attending physician and a professor of endocrinology and diabetes at University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland.

The study is published in the April 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Source

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Resources:
dLife; About Diabetes.com; American Diabetes Association

Diabetes; Type 1 Diabetes; Type 2 Diabetes