Children under the age of 5 with type 1 diabetes who were enrolled in the Medicaid program had a higher incidence of ketoacidosis than children enrolled in private insurance plans, the study found. Poster Presentation At the recent annual meeting of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy in New Orleans.
Indeed, 12 months or more after diagnosis, children on Medicaid had a 2.5-fold increased incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), “suggesting an increased DKA-related clinical and HRU burden in managing T1D among Medicaid patients,” the researchers wrote.
Approximately 352,000 children and adolescents under the age of 20 have been diagnosed with diabetes, of which 304,000 have type 1 diabetes. According to the data From the CDC.
Diabetic ketoacidosis is a serious complication of diabetes. Without enough insulin, cells cannot use sugar for energy. The liver begins to break down fats for fuel, producing acids called ketones. In children with diabetes, diabetic ketoacidosis occurs in 6-8% of cases per year. Recent Data.
This retrospective analysis, sponsored by Sanofi, evaluated healthcare resource utilization among children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Using data from Merative MarketScan, a data and analytics company, researchers analyzed pediatric patients newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2018.
Patients were included if they had two or more medical claims with a type 1 diabetes code. Health care resource use was analyzed based on type of health insurance (private or Medicaid). The researchers evaluated 5,245 patients, of which 4,092 had private insurance and 1,153 had Medicaid. Baseline comorbidities were low overall, but patients with Medicaid had more comorbidities. The researchers did not disclose what the comorbidities were.
Medicaid patients aged 0-5 years experienced DKA within 3 months of initial clinical diagnosis, and more children experienced DKA more than 12 months after diagnosis and had more emergency department visits and hospitalizations than privately insured children.
Previous research Medicaid children hospitalized with diabetic ketoacidosis were found to have longer hospital stays, more procedures performed, and higher total costs of care.
Another study They found that there was an overall 40% increase in hospitalizations of children with diabetic ketoacidosis over the 10-year period between 2006 and 2016. The study suggested further research to examine psychosocial and economic factors that increase the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis so clinical interventions to address the risk could be determined.