Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Time For A Research Update!

This afternoon, I received an email from Cynthia Beckman, the Director of Development at the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University, on behalf of Dr. Peter Green. The message was to notify patients of a recent publication from the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center. You may download the article below:

ECONOMIC BENEFIT OF INCREASED DIAGNOSIS OF CELIAC DISEASE from the Journal of Insurance Medicine by Peter H. R. Green; Alfred I. Neugut; Afzal J. Naiyer; Z. Collette Edwards; Susan Gabinelle; Vijit Chinburapa.

I also included some highlights from this study below -

"The average delay in diagnosis for adult patients with celiac disease ranges from 4 to 11 years in North America."

"We found the higher the number of associated conditions exhibited by members, the higher the likelihood of celiac disease diagnosis over the 4-year study period. The top 5 conditions with the highest occurrence of celiac disease diagnosis in the study period were dermatitis herpetiformis (1 in 34), followed by Down syndome (1 in 53), nutritional marasmus (1 in 65), cachexia (1 in 98), and pancreatic insufficiency (1 in 123)."

"This study, involving over 10 million subjects enrolled in managed care programs, from all regions of the United States, reported that the age- and sex-adjusted rate of new diagnosis for celiac disease increased over 2-fold from 2000 to 2003."

"The overall savings after celiac disease diagnosis was confirmed when we examined the mean direct medical expenditures per capita among members who received diagnosis for the celiac disease diagnosis. These expenditures increased substantially at the time of diagnosis and for the 12-months after the diagnosis of celiac disease, when compared to 12-months prior to diagnosis. The increase in expenditures was attributed mainly to an increase in the facility inpatient component. However, over time the mean medical expenditures decreased from $8502 per capita to $7133 and $7854 for 24-month and 36-month after diagnosis."

For more details, download and read the complete publication above.

Happy Reading!

~Paige

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