The Division of Public Health issues its 2023 Impact of Diabetes in Delaware report to the General Assembly.
The report is issued every two years and provides up-to-date information on diabetes prevalence, programming, costs, and progress.
It’s a collaboration between the Division of Public Health and the Division of Medicaid & Medical Assistance under DHSS - and the Department of Human Resources Statewide Benefits Office.
The latest report covers the years 2021 and 2022, and shows that 24.6% of Delaware adults have either pre-diabetes or diabetes. 12% have been diagnosed with diabetes and 12.6% diagnosed with pre-diabetes.
It found the numbers trending higher from previous reports. and it details concerns about disparities by race.
Wendy Bailey is a trainer/educator for DPH’s Diabetes and Heart Disease Prevention and Control Program. She says racial disparities were also noted.
"A major concern for us was that there is a statistically significant five-year morbidity rating for African American men from diabetes. So that's definitely a population of focus in terms of prevention and diabetes control."
Overall, the five-year age-adjusted mortality rate for diabetes declined, but diabetes is still costly.
"The cost of diabetes is huge. About a $1.1 billion a year cost with $818 million of direct costs for medications, supplies, hospitalizations, and about a 300 million indirect cost, and that's the lost time at work, problems with living that sort of thing."
Bailey notes on average medical costs per person are 2.3 times higher for someone with diabetes than for a person without it.
The full report is available online, and it can be accessed online.
