Celiac disease can have economic impact
Posted on: Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 14:59 CDT
U.S. medical scientists say they've demonstrated an economic benefit to the diagnosis of celiac disease in a managed care U.S. population.
The researchers at the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center said they determined increased awareness and diagnosis of celiac disease would benefit not only patients, but also would reduce health care costs.
Celiac disease occurs in genetically susceptible individuals due to the development of an immune response to gluten, the protein component of wheat, rye and barley. Although the disease occurs in about 1 percent of the U.S. population, the scientists said most people with the condition remain undiagnosed. Celiac disease is associated with the development of osteoporosis, anemia, various autoimmune conditions and several malignancies.
Researchers led by Dr. Peter Green, a professor of clinical medicine, said their study of a large managed-care database revealed cost reductions after diagnosis of celiac disease were attributable to decreasing trends in utilization of office visits, laboratory tests, diagnostic imaging and endoscopy procedures.
The study is detailed in the Journal of Insurance Medicine.
Source: United Press International
Related Articles
- Careful Diagnosis Helps Fracture Patients Put Best Foot Forward
- NBCH Releases Report on Health Plans' Performance for Cardiovascular Disease Care and Prevention
- A New Era in the Application of Lab-on-a-Chip to Rapid Point-of-Care Diagnosis
- New Study Examines Detection and Diagnosis in the Early Stages of Alzheimer's Disease
- New Blood ''Signature'' Test Holds Key to Successful Early Alzheimer's Diagnosis and Treatment
- U.S. Chronic Disease Health Care Lags Way Behind Other Countries
- Doctor Accused of Inappropriate Care: Diagnosis, Treatment of Lyme Disease Was Mishandled, Notice Says
- Camp-Expo Provides Info on Diseases, Health Care
- Glycominds Achieves CE MARK for Novel Crohn's Disease Blood Test; US Patent Office Grants GlycoChip Letters of Allowance
- Chris Viele of KRONUS Chronicles Autoimmune Disease Advances
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds