While it is known that type 2 diabetes can have a major impact on health, a new study has, for the first time, highlighted the impact it also has on the global economy and labour markets.

UK researchers set out to assess the economic impact of type 2 diabetes around the world. They analysed data from 109 global studies, making this the most up-to-date worldwide review of this topic.

They found a ‘considerable impact of diabetes in terms of costs to society, health systems, individuals and employers'.

They found a large cost burden in low, middle and high income countries. However, diabetes appears to hit the poorest hardest. In fact, low and middle-income countries, such as China and India, have a higher cost burden overall and two in three new cases of the disease occur in these areas.

The study found that worldwide, men with diabetes have worse employment opportunities than women, but whether male or female, the costs associated with the disease increase over time as it becomes more severe.

"Diabetes affects 382 million people worldwide, and that number is expected to grow to 592 million by 2035. It is a chronic disease that has spread widely in recent decades - not only in high-income countries, but also in many populous low and middle-income countries such as India and China.

"The rising prevalence of diabetes in these countries has been fuelled by rapid urbanisation, changing eating habits, and increasingly sedentary lifestyles," commented lead researcher, Till Seuring, of the University of East Anglia.

The study contained detailed information about the direct costs associated with diabetes, such as doctor visits and medication, and indirect costs, such as lost working hours due to illness and lost income due to early retirement.

"The characteristics of the economic burden vary from country to country depending on the health care system in place. In high income countries, the burden often affects government or public health insurance budgets, while in poorer countries a large part of the burden falls on the person with diabetes and their family due to very limited health insurance coverage," Mr Seuring said.

He noted that these findings show that diabetes not only affects people's health, but also presents ‘a large, and at least partly avoidable, economic burden'.

"For both rich and poor countries, the results mean that better prevention and management of diabetes has the potential to not only bring good health but also economic gains.

"We would hope that the findings further increase the policy attention being paid to diabetes prevention and management in rich countries, and it should in particular make health and economic policymakers in developing countries aware of the economic damage that diabetes can do," Mr Seuring added.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, PharmacoEconomics.