Adherence
An intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) focused on weight loss and physical activity reduces total healthcare costs compared to diabetes support and education (DSE), but this cost reduction is largely mediated by the slowing of frailty index progression.
For those managing type 2 diabetes and obesity, an intensive lifestyle program involving significant weight loss and exercise can reduce healthcare costs by about $460 annually. However, this saving is primarily because the program slows down biological aging (frailty). If you are considering such an intervention, focus on the health benefits of slowing frailty; the cost savings are a secondary benefit that may not be statistically significant for every individual.
Mean [95% confidence interval] relative annual savings in health care costs associated with randomization to the intensive lifestyle intervention were $437 [$195, $579] per year during Years 1–4 and $461 [$232, $690] per year during Years 1–8. These were attenuated and the 95% confidence interval no longer excluded $0 after adjustment for the annual FI differences from baseline.
Why this rating
RCT data, large sample size, but the cost-saving effect disappears when adjusting for the mediator (frailty).
Source
Cross‐sectional and longitudinal associations among healthcare costs and deficit accumulation
Mark A. Espeland et al. · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2024
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