Longitudinal analysis of medical insuance premiums for diabetes patients with osteoarthritis in Beijing.

Objective To analyze the use of medical insurance expenses of diabetic patients with osteoarthritis (OA) in Beijing, and to explore the impact of OA on the economic burden of diabetes patients. Methods Diabetic patients aged>16 years with complete outpatient medical records from 2016 to 2018 in Beijing medical insurance were included, excluding those with less than 2 months of follow-up and no prescription records. Information was collected from the Beijing medical insurance database, including the international disease classification of diabetes and its complications and comorbidities, age, sex, disease course, drug (hypoglycemic and non-hypoglycemic drugs) treatment plan, and medical insurance costs. Multivariate regression model was used to control confounding factors, and Wilcoxon rank sum test, χ² test or Fisher exact test were used to compare the differences in various indicators between the patients with diabetes without OA and those with diabetes with OA. Results A total of 2 853 036 diabetic patients were included, of whom 673 251 patients (23.60%) had OA. Stratified by age, the proportion of diabetics with OA was higher in the 45-84 age group, 92.73%, 92.43% and 92.29% in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. According to gender distribution, there were more females in diabetics with OA, 55.17%, 54.41% and 53.37% in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. Compared with diabetics without OA, diabetics with OA had significantly more related to complications and comorbidities (P< 0.001). Compared with diabetics without OA, the total annual drug cost/drug number of diabetics with OA in 2018 was higher at (2 511±2 526) and (2 608±2 155) yuan/drug, respectively, of which the cost/drug number of hypoglycemic drugs and non-hypoglycemic drugs was higher. From 2016 to 2018, the types of drugs for diabetics with OA (especially the types of hypoglycemic drugs) showed an increasing trend year by year, while the total annual drug cost (including hypoglycemic drugs and non-hypoglycemic drugs) showed a decreasing trend, and the total annual drug cost/drug number of medications also showed a decreasing trend. Conclusions Diabetics with osteoarthritis have more diabetes complications and related comorbidities, and require more hypoglycemic drugs and medical expenses. Osteoarthritis significantly increases the medical expenses of diabetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]