Canadian Research Data Centre Network

Objective This study estimates the productivity and labour-related welfare losses from Diabetes Mellitus (DM) as a whole, and separately for insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). It also estimates losses associated with DM-related comorbidities (DRCOM). Research Design and Methods The estimates are derived from the 2001 Canadian Community Health Survey. A two-part model is used to estimate the impact of DM on labour market outcomes. Part one uses logistic regression to estimate the impact of DM on the probability of working; part two uses log-transformed OLS regression with smearing correction to estimate the impact of DM on annual number of weeks of work and weekly earnings, for workers. Results DM lowers the probability of working for both women and men. For women NIDDM and for men IDDM decreases the number of weeks of work and weekly wage rate. The productivity and welfare losses of DM are estimated to be $2.8 billion CAD and $16.8 billion CAD, including the losses due to DRCOM. While the productivity and welfare losses per diabetic were larger for women and men with IDDM, the estimated national productivity and welfare losses associated NIDDM are larger due to its larger prevalence rate. Conclusions The results are of use to health service researchers interested in identifying and quantifying DM-related productivity and welfare losses using econometric modeling.