Aim: Cost-effective arguments are needed to help convince less-resourced governments to provide essential T1D services. We developed two scenarios - for Pakistan (Lower-Middle Income) (S1) and Azerbaijan (Upper-Middle Income) (S2).
Methods: We modelled the complications/costs/mortality/Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) associated with achieving a mean HbA1c of 9.0% (75 mmol/mol) for S1 and 8.5% (69 mmol/mol) for S2 compared with those with a mean HbA1c level of 12.5% (113 mmol/mol). ’Acceptable care’ S1 involved human insulin by multiple daily injections (MDI), two blood glucose tests/day, education and complications screening etc. S2 was S1 with analog rather than human insulin and four tests/day. ’Minimal care’ was non-MDI insulin, syringes and routine clinic reviews. A discrete time Markov illness-death model with diabetes-duration-dependent transition probabilities was developed in R 3.3.1. Input parameters included 30 years (y) of University of Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications (EDC) cohort statistics for T1D diagnosed <17 y of age and DALYs and background mortality data from WHO. Eleven complications were included. Costs were determined from international and local estimations.
Results: Complications were markedly raised with HbA1c at 12.5% compared to 9.0% and 8.5%. For instance, blindness at 30y was 49.4%, 11.6% and 9.5% respectively. For S1, 30y total costs (maintenance and cost of acute and chronic complications) were $20,919/patient at 9.0% and $20,796 at 12.5%. For S2, costs were $61,429 at 8.5% and $60,826 at 12.5%. Thirty y survival rate for Pakistan was 87% at 9.0% and 64% at 12.5%, and for Azerbaijan 91% at 8.5% and 66% at 12.5%. Cumulative DALYs lost in 30 years in Pakistan were 2.6y at 9.0% and 6.0y (12.5%). Azerbaijan was 2.0y (8.5%) and 5.8y (12.5%).
Conclusion: ’Acceptable care’ is of similar cost to ’Minimal care’ in Pakistan and Azerbaijan, with improved survival and reduced DALYs. This model can be used in other less-resourced countries.
G.D. Ogle: None. J. Guo: None. G.A. Ahmadov: None. A. Fawwad: None. G.A. Gregory: None. E.L. Klatman: None. T.J. Orchard: None.