Socioeconomic Status: Drug Coverage

Diabetes Dept: Mortality rates of people with diabetes have fallen substantially due largely to better drug therapy, according to research by scientists at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences ICES and St. Michael s Hospital in Toronto, according to CBC. The population-based cohort study assessed the administrative health claims of 606,051 people with diabetes in the province between April 1, 2002, and March 31, 2008. Their socioeconomic status was based on their neighbourhood median household income levels from the 2001 Canadian census. Some facts about diabetes in Canada: Lower-income individuals under age 65 who have diabetes have a much higher risk of death than older and more affluent people with the disease, according to an Ontario study that suggests 65-and-over universal drug coverage extended to all age groups could help close the health gap between rich and poor. "However, trends have been less favourable among those of lower socioeconomic status SES , leading to a widening gap in mortality between rich and poor," says the study. Titled "Universal drug coverage and socioeconomic disparities in diabetes outcomes, it was released Monday in the publication Diabetes Care. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.