ATLANTA, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Noting that today is the American Diabetes Association Alert! Day, Alere Health, a leading provider of health management solutions, announced the availability of an enhanced Pediatric Diabetes Management program. As diabetes rates in children reach near-epidemic levels, Alere Health developed the program to provide action planning for school-aged children to help them effectively cope with and manage their conditions.
Today, 32% of the nation’s youth is either overweight or obese, and rates of chronic diseases among children are escalating. The CDC projects that, by 2050, one out of three children could have diabetes, a serious need requiring the expansion of health management services to children.
Kids with diabetes face very different issues than adults with the condition. Alere’s program is designed to teach them how to cope with the requirements of daily testing – which will often need to be done at school or away from home. The program also focuses on helping children address their fears about the disease, especially what friends and family will say, and provides answers to questions about healthy eating and more.
Alere’s Pediatric Diabetes program targets children from ages 6 to 17. The program follows evidence-based, pediatric guidelines for type 1 and type 2 diabetes management and outcomes, and it involves bi-weekly blood glucose and symptom monitoring. Biometric measures taken as part of the program include A1c, microalbumin and LDL values. The program also tracks the frequency of the retinal eye exams, pneumonia vaccinations and body mass index.
In the United States, obese children account for nearly $14 billion in healthcare costs each year1, and employers incur significant costs from lost productivity when parents miss work to care for their children with obesity-related illnesses. In 2008, the average claims costs for a child with type 2 diabetes were more than $10,000.2
“The increase in childhood diabetes rates has significant financial implications for employers and society − not to mention the tremendous toll it places on children and their families,” said Mike Cotton, CEO of Alere Health. “Our mission at Alere is to continually search for ways to cost-effectively help entire families improve their health and make lasting changes in their lifestyles.”
For more information, call (800) 456-4060 or email alereinfo@alere.com.
About Alere:
Alere Health is the health management services business of Alere Inc. Alere, a Latin verb, meaning “to care for” or “to support,” offers the most patient-centered health management services available from a single provider in the industry. Alere provides health interventions that cover an individual’s entire lifespan, from pre-cradle to end-of-life care, and the company’s services range from wellness and prevention to the total health management of individuals with chronic illnesses. Alere’s continuum of services begins with preconception, pregnancy, NICU and first year of life; it continues with lifelong programs focused on health, wellness, the management of such conditions as heart failure, COPD, and asthma, and the complex management required for end-of-life care. For more information regarding Alere, please visit www.alere.com.
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing Obesity and Chronic Diseases Through Good Nutrition and Physical Activity.
2 Sepulveda MJ, Tan F, Zimmerman E, Eddington D. Health Affairs, 29, no. 3 (2010): 513-521. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0737