JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 12 /PRNewswire/ -- A study released today by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) found that patients with diabetes who undergo coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and have strict blood sugar control monitored by an endocrinologist do not incur increased healthcare costs and may actually experience a decreased risk of infection, length of hospital stay, and mortality. The study is published in the March/April 2004 issue of AACE’s peer-reviewed journal Endocrine Practice.
The study compared patients with diabetes undergoing CABG at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center who were conventionally treated with insulin as directed by anesthesia and surgical teams to patients who underwent strict glycemic control protocols under the care of an endocrinologist. The study showed that the patients monitored by an endocrinologist demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in glycemic control compared to the other group. In addition, the improvement in glycemic control was achieved without any reported episodes of severe hypoglycemia.
The results of the study also focused on the healthcare costs involved. “The findings showed that any increased expense of endocrinology consultation and frequent glucose monitoring may have been offset by the trend toward fewer costly infections and reduction in hospital length of stays,” states Amit C. Vora, MD, from the Ambulatory Care Center in Wartburg, Tennessee. Vora completed the work while an endocrinology fellow at Penn State Hershey Medical Center under the direction of Robert A. Gabbay, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of medicine, Penn State College of Medicine. “In our current healthcare environment of evidence-based and cost-effective healthcare delivery, studies related to measures of efficiency and costs are increasingly important.”
The total cost, both direct and indirect, attributable to diabetes in the United States are estimated at $132 billion in 2002. Approximately one out of every six healthcare dollars spent is directed towards diabetes and its complications.
AACE held a consensus conference on inpatient diabetes and metabolic control in December 2003 to discuss many of the same issues. “Both studies not only shows that healthcare costs can decrease due to strict glycemic control,” comments Donald A. Bergman, MD, FACE, AACE president, “but they also stress the important role of an endocrinologist in the treatment of patients with diabetes in the hospital setting.”
For a full text version of the article, visit http://www.aace.com/pub/press/releases/index.php. For more information about the Consensus Development Conference on Inpatient Diabetes and Metabolic Control, visit http://www.aace.com/pub/ICC/index.php.
AACE is a professional medical organization with over 4,600 members in the United States and 70 other countries. Founded in 1991, AACE is dedicated to the optimal care of patients with endocrine problems. AACE initiatives inform the public about endocrine disorders. AACE also conducts continuing education programs for clinical endocrinologists, physicians whose advanced, specialized training enables them to be experts in the care of endocrine disease, such as diabetes, thyroid disorders, growth hormone deficiency, osteoporosis, cholesterol disorders, hypertension and obesity.
For further information visit AACE Online at http://www.aace.com/.
American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists
CONTACT: Sissy Crabtree, scrabtree@aace.com, or Sarah Bradley,sbradley@aace.com, both of American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists,+1-904-353-7878