Economic analysis of the Mediterranean Lifestyle Program for postmenopausal women with diabetes

The purpose of this study was to evaluate costs associated with the primary intervention of the Mediterranean Lifestyle Program (MLP), which targeted postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes at risk for coronary heart disease.

Using retrospective data collected during MLP development and implementation, the authors estimated costs for the first 6 months relative to the usual care condition and incremental costs per behavioral, biologic, and quality-of-life change. Sensitivity analyses were conducted using variations in inflation rates, implementation settings, labor and nonlabor inputs, and market wage rates.

Of the sample of 279 study participants, 163 were randomized into the MLP condition. Total intervention costs were estimated at $211 061 ($148 022 direct costs) or $1295 per MLP participant relative to usual care ($908 direct costs). This translates to $3808 per average change in coronary heart disease risk as measured by an average 1-point reduction in hemoglobin A1C. Relative to other measured improvements, this corresponds to $2345 per unit reduction in body mass index and $644 per unit improvement in Problem Areas in Diabetes Quality-of-Life Self-care Summary score, and a $196 per-gram reduction in intake of saturated fatty acids as noted by the Food Frequency Questionnaire. A significant portion of the direct costs were related to the resources used during the recruitment phase.

Providing a relatively intensive lifestyle self-management program for this high-risk group is associated with modest incremental costs compared with usual care, making the program potentially appealing to policy makers.