Reducing the burden of diabetes in Europe: LSE policy recommendations launch and debate

Chronic diseases and diabetes mellitus in particular, represent a real and growing challenge to European societies. Currently 32 million people in the EU have diabetes, with this figure set to grow to 38.3 million by 2030. Treating diabetes and its complications takes up between 10% and 18.5% of EU Member States healthcare budgets. This growing social and economic burden poses a major challenge to securing economic recovery and growth in Europe now and in the future. Recognising this challenge the Danish Presidency of the European Union have chosen to make Chronic Diseases with diabetes as a model disease one of their three key health priorities of their Presidency, building on the focus of the trio presidency on non-communicable diseases.

Diabetes is associated with a high risk of developing complications and severe co-morbidities. In recent years the social costs of diabetes (both Type I and II) and its associated economic burden have risen, particularly the costs related to treatment of complications.

In order to investigate these growing costs and understand how diabetes is being managed, the London School of Economics (LSE) have conducted a study aimed at identifying and comparing diabetes burden of disease, costs (direct and indirect) and diabetes outcomes, focusing on complications across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK (EU5).

This study found that the total cost of diabetes (direct and indirect) are estimated to exceed €188 billion in the 5 study countries. The study furthermore finds that this rise in diabetes prevalence is driven by increasing obesity, aging populations, earlier identification of patients with diabetes, change in ethnic distribution, and improvements in data collection (UK).
Despite of this steep rise in prevalence Italy, Spain and the UK are the only countries in the study who have national diabetes programmes (NDPs), although some are not monitored and none appear to have hard targets.

In order to understand how these policy recommendations can be used to address the growing burden of diabetes in Europe, Christel Schaldemose MEP and the Danish Diabetes Association hosted a lunchtime policy debate on 25th January 2012.

The policy debate included a presentation of the study results and recommendations by Professor Panos Kanavos from the LSE, and a speech by the Danish Minister for European Affairs, Nicolai Wammen.

The policy debate focused on how the study’s recommendations can be taken forward at an EU and national level, and was set in the context of the European Commission on-going reflection process on chronic diseases, the Danish Presidency’s focus on chronic diseases with diabetes as a model disease and the follow-up to the UN Summit on NCDs. This event was organised by Novo Nordisk and the Parliament Magazine.

Click here to view photos from the event.

Please click on the speaker’s name to view their presentation
Prof. Panos Kanavos, London School of Economics- Study author
Prof Leszek Czupryniak MD PhD, Director of international postgraduate education, European Association for diabetes studies

Click here to view an online report from the event.