The cost of diabetes: time for a different approach?

We argue that studies estimating the treatment cost of diabetes and other economic issues have progressed dramatically over recent years. This has undoubtedly improved our understanding of diabetes. However, attention needs to now shift to more detailed studies that require prospective bespoke data collection from epidemiologists as well as economists. This is not to say that investigation of costs using routine data is of no value - such work will continue to provide new data and methods to those evaluating new interventions, as well as by helping to identify important research areas. However, it may be time for a new paradigm to help in our understanding of this challenging disease. Such an approach must be capable of supporting the complex evaluation of new technologies, and subsequently, can not rely solely on routine data.