Health and Economic Impacts of Implementing Produce Prescription Programs for Diabetes in the United States: A Microsimulation Study

Background Produce prescription programs, providing free or discounted produce and nutrition education to patients with diet‐related conditions within health care systems, have been shown to improve dietary quality and cardiometabolic risk factors. The potential impact of implementing produce prescr...

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Main Authors: Lu Wang, Brianna N. Lauren, Kurt Hager, Fang Fang Zhang, John B. Wong, David D. Kim, Dariush Mozaffarian
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2023-08-01
Series:Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.122.029215
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author Lu Wang
Brianna N. Lauren
Kurt Hager
Fang Fang Zhang
John B. Wong
David D. Kim
Dariush Mozaffarian
author_facet Lu Wang
Brianna N. Lauren
Kurt Hager
Fang Fang Zhang
John B. Wong
David D. Kim
Dariush Mozaffarian
author_sort Lu Wang
collection DOAJ
description Background Produce prescription programs, providing free or discounted produce and nutrition education to patients with diet‐related conditions within health care systems, have been shown to improve dietary quality and cardiometabolic risk factors. The potential impact of implementing produce prescription programs for patients with diabetes on long‐term health gains, costs, and cost‐effectiveness in the United States has not been established. Methods and Results We used a validated state‐transition microsimulation model (Diabetes, Obesity, Cardiovascular Disease Microsimulation model), populated with national data of eligible individuals from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013 to 2018, further incorporating estimated intervention effects and diet‐disease effects from meta‐analyses, and policy‐ and health‐related costs from published literature. The model estimated that over a lifetime (mean=25 years), implementing produce prescriptions in 6.5 million US adults with both diabetes and food insecurity (lifetime treatment) would prevent 292 000 (95% uncertainty interval, 143 000–440 000) cardiovascular disease events, generate 260 000 (110000–411 000) quality‐adjusted life‐years, cost $44.3 billion in implementation costs, and save $39.6 billion ($20.5–58.6 billion) in health care costs and $4.8 billion ($1.84–$7.70 billion) in productivity costs. The program was highly cost effective from a health care perspective (incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio: $18 100/quality‐adjusted life‐years) and cost saving from a societal perspective (net savings: $−0.05 billion). The intervention remained cost effective at shorter time horizons of 5 and 10 years. Results were similar in population subgroups by age, race or ethnicity, education, and baseline insurance status. Conclusions Our model suggests that implementing produce prescriptions among US adults with diabetes and food insecurity would generate substantial health gains and be highly cost effective.
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spelling doaj.art-f691111784c14caaa6eab809e76641b62023-08-23T10:41:23ZengWileyJournal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease2047-99802023-08-01121510.1161/JAHA.122.029215Health and Economic Impacts of Implementing Produce Prescription Programs for Diabetes in the United States: A Microsimulation StudyLu Wang0Brianna N. Lauren1Kurt Hager2Fang Fang Zhang3John B. Wong4David D. Kim5Dariush Mozaffarian6The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy Tufts University Boston MA USAThe Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy Tufts University Boston MA USAThe Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy Tufts University Boston MA USAThe Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy Tufts University Boston MA USADivision of Clinical Decision Making Tufts Medical Center Boston MA USADivision of Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine University of Chicago IL USAThe Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy Tufts University Boston MA USABackground Produce prescription programs, providing free or discounted produce and nutrition education to patients with diet‐related conditions within health care systems, have been shown to improve dietary quality and cardiometabolic risk factors. The potential impact of implementing produce prescription programs for patients with diabetes on long‐term health gains, costs, and cost‐effectiveness in the United States has not been established. Methods and Results We used a validated state‐transition microsimulation model (Diabetes, Obesity, Cardiovascular Disease Microsimulation model), populated with national data of eligible individuals from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013 to 2018, further incorporating estimated intervention effects and diet‐disease effects from meta‐analyses, and policy‐ and health‐related costs from published literature. The model estimated that over a lifetime (mean=25 years), implementing produce prescriptions in 6.5 million US adults with both diabetes and food insecurity (lifetime treatment) would prevent 292 000 (95% uncertainty interval, 143 000–440 000) cardiovascular disease events, generate 260 000 (110000–411 000) quality‐adjusted life‐years, cost $44.3 billion in implementation costs, and save $39.6 billion ($20.5–58.6 billion) in health care costs and $4.8 billion ($1.84–$7.70 billion) in productivity costs. The program was highly cost effective from a health care perspective (incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio: $18 100/quality‐adjusted life‐years) and cost saving from a societal perspective (net savings: $−0.05 billion). The intervention remained cost effective at shorter time horizons of 5 and 10 years. Results were similar in population subgroups by age, race or ethnicity, education, and baseline insurance status. Conclusions Our model suggests that implementing produce prescriptions among US adults with diabetes and food insecurity would generate substantial health gains and be highly cost effective.https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.122.029215cost‐effectivenessfood is medicinemicro‐simulationproduce prescription
spellingShingle Lu Wang
Brianna N. Lauren
Kurt Hager
Fang Fang Zhang
John B. Wong
David D. Kim
Dariush Mozaffarian
Health and Economic Impacts of Implementing Produce Prescription Programs for Diabetes in the United States: A Microsimulation Study
Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease
cost‐effectiveness
food is medicine
micro‐simulation
produce prescription
title Health and Economic Impacts of Implementing Produce Prescription Programs for Diabetes in the United States: A Microsimulation Study
title_full Health and Economic Impacts of Implementing Produce Prescription Programs for Diabetes in the United States: A Microsimulation Study
title_fullStr Health and Economic Impacts of Implementing Produce Prescription Programs for Diabetes in the United States: A Microsimulation Study
title_full_unstemmed Health and Economic Impacts of Implementing Produce Prescription Programs for Diabetes in the United States: A Microsimulation Study
title_short Health and Economic Impacts of Implementing Produce Prescription Programs for Diabetes in the United States: A Microsimulation Study
title_sort health and economic impacts of implementing produce prescription programs for diabetes in the united states a microsimulation study
topic cost‐effectiveness
food is medicine
micro‐simulation
produce prescription
url https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.122.029215
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