The economic burden of diabetic retinopathy in Germany in 2002

The aims of our study were to describe the costs associated with diabetic retinopathy (DR), and to evaluate its economic impact in Germany.

Forty-one German ophthalmologists, randomly selected from a physicians' database in Germany, provided information on adult Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic patients with DR (n = 207). This information included socio-demographics, clinical characteristics and resource use during the year 2002. National-level cost estimates were calculated, based on these results and the prevalence data on DR in Germany.

This study found that costs associated with DR tend to increase as DR progresses, being highest in patients with proliferative DR and lowest in patients with mild, non-proliferative DR. The German statutory health insurance (Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung, GKV) covered two-thirds of the total costs paid by all the payers. The total cost of DR from a societal perspective was calculated at 3.51 euros bn for the year 2002, and from the GKV perspective amounted to 2.23 euros bn.

This study is the first comprehensive study to provide estimates of costs associated with DR in Germany. These costs were estimated to account for approximately 1.5% of the total health-care expenditure in 2002.