Quantifying the hidden healthcare cost of diabetes mellitus in Australian hospital patients

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus in hospital inpatients is most commonly present as a comorbidity rather than as the primary diagnosis. In some hospitals, the prevalence of comorbid diabetes mellitus across all inpatients exceeds 30%, which could add to complexity of care and resource utilisation. However, whether and to what extent comorbid diabetes mellitus contributes indirectly to greater hospitalisation costs is ill-defined. Aim: To determine the attributable effect of comorbid diabetes mellitus on hospital resource utilisation in a General Internal Medical service in Melbourne, Australia. Methods: We extracted data from a database of all General Internal Medical discharge episodes from Ju..