Living with diabetes carries a price in China

February 2011

A new research study carried out by global pharma specialists The Research Partnership offers insight into how patients in China manage life with type 2 diabetes. Following on from studies conducted in the US, UK and Germany, this survey reveals that for people in China life with diabetes carries a price – not just on their physical health but also on their wallet, their time and their overall enjoyment of life. Although patients in China are able to reimburse some of their healthcare costs, on average they spend 421 RMB (£40, US$64) per month on out-of-pocket expenses treating their condition and travelling to the hospital for treatment. They also spend almost 11 hours per month managing their illness. Insulin users will have to spend the most out-of-pocket, close to double that of OAD users. Given that the average earnings are reported to be about 4,500 RMB (£427, US$684)* per month in Tier 1 cities Beijing and Shanghai** and around 2,000 RMB (£190, US$304) per month in Tier 2 cities***, treating diabetes is a considerable expense, even for wealthy Chinese. Despite this, the survey found that only 1 in 5 patients will ask their doctors for less expensive treatments.

Living with Diabetes China, which was carried out via face-to-face interviews in the major urban cities of China, asked over 1,000 patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a range of questions on their attitudes, feelings, health status, drug treatment programmes and needs for coping with life with diabetes. The study, which is one of a range of topical-based market reports available from The Research Partnership, aims to help the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry understand what life is like with an illness from the patient perspective.

According to current statistics, over 43m people in China have now been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and that figure is set to continue to rise with the increased urbanisation of China and the adoption of more western lifestyles. According to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) one in 10 Chinese adults from a survey of 46,000 adults have the disease, whilst another 16% were on the verge of developing it.

Findings from the Living with Diabetes China study reveal that one in three type 2 diabetics in China do not feel they are successful in managing their diabetes and one in ten patients admit that their doctor gets annoyed because they are not managing their condition well. 12% of patients believe that having diabetes has a large impact on their ability to engage in leisure activities and 10% say it has a large impact on their sex drive and general mood. Half of patients say that it has at least a moderate impact on many aspects of life, including their ability to work, to engage in family activities and to sleep properly. A quarter of patients feel that they are constantly reminded of the fact that they have diabetes. More detailed findings from the study can be provided on request.

*1 RMB = 0.095 GBP = 0.152 USD = 0.111 EUR (www.xe.com to nearest 3 decimal points), **National Bureau of Statistics of China 2009 data http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2009/indexch.htm *** Cheng Du: Average annual income in 2010: 19,920 RMB (from Si Chuan statistics information: http://www.sc.stats.gov.cn/ ) Wu Han: Average annual income in 2010: 20,806.32 RMB (from Wu Han statistics: http://www.whtj.gov.cn/Article/ShowArticle.aspx?id=6020) Xi’an: Average annual income in 2010: 22,244 RMB (from Xi’an statistics: http://www.xatj.gov.cn/) Nan Jing: Average annual income in 2010: 28.312 RMB (from Nan jing development and reform commission www.njdpc.gov.cn)