Diabetes Hospital Visits: as Primary Diagnosis, by County, New Mexico, 2015-2017

Why Is This Important?

Hospitalization is costly for individuals, families and society. Based on 2012 American Diabetes Association estimates, direct medical as well as nonmedical costs for diagnosed diabetes and undiagnosed diabetes were about $1.8 billion in New Mexico alone. This 2012 estimate includes the costs of hospitalization, office visits, prescription medications, inability to work due to disability, reduced productivity at work, and lost productivity capacity due to early mortality. This does not include costs due to prediabetes, over the counter medications, prevention programs, research programs, and productivity loss for informal caregivers. Diabetes hospitalizations are considered potentially preventable hospitalizations, that is, some proportion of these inpatient stays are preventable. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), "with high-quality, community-based primary care, hospitalization for these illnesses often can be avoided". AHRQ includes diabetes as one such illness. Key prevention strategies include regular physical activity and healthy nutrition; effective self-management; regular and effective management support; and, access to specialty or ambulatory care as appropriate. Environmental prevention strategies include accessible and affordable vegetables and fruits; readily accessible safe places for physical activity; and school, work and community cultures visibly supporting physical activity for all ages and abilities. To accomplish this there is a role for all sectors, from families to businesses to health systems to government. One public health role is to build supports, structures and conditions that make it easy for as many people as possible to be active, to eat a healthy diet daily, and to access primary care when needed. A vital part of this role is linking clinical systems with community supports, such as the National Diabetes Prevention Program, diabetes self-management education, and other community-based prevention programs.

Definition

The number of hospital inpatient discharges for diabetes per 10,000 population, ICD9-CM code 250 and, after October 1, 2015, ICD10-CM codes E10-E14. Except for age-specific rates, rates are age-adjusted to the 2000 US Standard Populations.

Data Notes

Data Sources

• New Mexico Population Estimates: University of New Mexico, Geospatial and Population Studies (GPS) Program.
  (http://gps.unm.edu/)
• Hospital Inpatient Discharge Data, New Mexico Department of Health.

How the Measure is Calculated

Data Issues

• New Mexico Population Estimates

  All population estimates apply to July 1 of the selected year. These estimates are considered the most accurate estimates for the state of New Mexico and should match those found on the University of New Mexico Geospatial and Population Studies website. Estimates include decimal fractions. Census tract population estimates were summed to produce County and Small Area population estimates. Population estimate totals may vary due to rounding. Population estimates for previous years are occasionally revised as new information becomes available. When publishing trend data, always be sure that your rates for earlier years match current rates on NM-IBIS that have been calculated with the most up-to-date population estimates.

• Hospital Inpatient Discharge Data (HIDD)

  ICD Stands for 'International Classification of Diseases.' It is a coding system maintained by the World Health Organization and the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics and is used to classify diagnoses for hospital and emergency department visits. This coding system underwent a major revision from version 9 (ICD9) to version 10 that went into effect October 1, 2015. In most cases, the two versions do not provide comparable results and the two time periods should not be combined in a single query. The hospital inpatient discharge data include visits to NON-FEDERAL HOSPITALS only. Visits to Veteran's Administration (VA) facilities and Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities have not been included, unless specifically stated otherwise. The data include all hospital visits. Persons with multiple hospital visits will be counted multiple times. Transfer visits have not been removed from the dataset. Patients who were transferred from one facility to another will have data records at each facility. Newborns have been excluded from the data when the hospital stay was for childbirth. The hospital inpatient dataset includes only New Mexico residents hospitalized in New Mexico hospitals, and will undercount hospitalizations of New Mexico residents who visited a hospital in another state. In cases of serious injuries near the state borders, oftentimes patients will be transported to a nearby trauma center in the bordering state.

Health Topic Pages Related to: Diabetes Hospitalization

• Chronic Diseases and Conditions
• Leading Causes of Death