A business group today released its inaugural report on the region's prevalence, costs and quality of care of Type 2 diabetes.

The Pittsburgh Business Group on Health, in conjunction with Bridgewater, N.J.-based sanofi-aventis, collected data on diabetes care in Pittsburgh, Erie and Sharon, as well as Johnstown and Wheeling, W.Va.

According to the report, 49.1 percent of Pittsburgh residents with Type 2 diabetes were between 18 and 64 years old in 2005. The state average for the same age group is 52.7 percent and the national average is 53.8 percent.

At $32,354, the average annual costs of inpatient care in Pittsburgh were about $7,000 less than the national average, and more than $22,000 less than the state average, the report said. Annual office visit costs were also substantially lower in Pittsburgh,

The Business Group arranged the analysis to give employers, as well as health care providers, local benchmarks of Type 2 diabetes to guide management of the prevalence and costs of the condition in the future.

For a copy of the report, see http://www.pbghpa.com/PBGH2006final.pdf