Economic Burden of Type 1 Diabetes in France

To estimate the societal costs of Type 1 diabetes (T1D) in France, including direct and indirect costs.

We conducted a descriptive retrospective cross-sectional study on all adult patients (aged 18 and over) with T1D identified in the SFDT1 cohort and compared them to a matched cohort of patients without diabetes considering age, gender, deprivation status and geographical area. An Insurance claim data analysis was conducted for the year 2023 individually and then extrapolated to all of France. Costs were broken down by expense categories and insulin delivery devices.

The average individual societal cost of T1D in France in 2023 compared with the absence of diabetes was estimated at €9940 (€9340 when considering direct costs only). Nearly half of the identified costs were attributable to the use of medical devices. An analysis stratifying patients by treatment modality (closed-loop, pump or multiple daily injections) highlighted the significant costs associated with the use of the most advanced technologies for delivering insulin (average costs were respectively €13 557, €11 062, and €7004, respectively). The total cost of T1D in France was estimated at between €1.59 and €1.79 billion in 2023 excluding undiagnosed cases and premature mortality associated with the disease.

Our results suggest that the most advanced insulin delivery devices have a significant short-term economic impact. Although this paper does not cover the research, model-based studies do suggest that there are some advantages to using such devices, including potential future savings due to lower complication rates.