Impact of increasing number of mental health conditions on healthcare costs and resource utilization among individuals with type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study

Objectives To evaluate the association between the number of mental health conditions among individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and healthcare expenditures in the USA.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between multiple mental health conditions (0, 1, and 2 or more mental health conditions) among individuals with T2D on healthcare expenditures using data from the 2019 US Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.Key findings A total of 24,091,931 weighted individuals with T2D were included for analysis; 76.8% had no co-occurring mental health conditions, 15.5% had one mental health condition, and 7.7% had two or more mental health conditions. Individuals with one and two or more mental health conditions had significantly greater total healthcare costs (+$7135 and +$7168), office-based costs (+$1196 and +$1483), prescription costs (+$2091 and +$3757), office-based visits (+3.55 and +6.46), and prescriptions fills (+13.97 and +26.77) than individuals with no mental health conditions.Conclusions Individuals with T2D and an increasing number of co-occurring mental health conditions were associated with increased healthcare costs and resource utilization. Underlying mechanisms for this relationship remain unclear, and further investigations are needed to accurately assess the impact this may have on health outcomes.