A report in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine reveals that Americans are spending double the amount they used to spend six years ago and the increase is due to newer, more costly drugs.

More exactly, costs for diabetes drugs rose to $12.5 billion in 2007 from $6.7 billion in 2001, the study found. Worldwide sales of diabetes drugs may jump to $22 billion by 2016, analysts estimate. “Diabetes is common and costly. More than one in every 10 healthcare dollars goes to treating diabetes or its complications,” said Dr. Caleb Alexander of the University of Chicago, who led the study. Also, annually patient visits for diabetes rose to 36 million in 2007 from 25 million in 1994 and the average number of drugs per patient rose to 1.63 from 1.14. The average cost per prescription rose to $76 in 2007 from $56 in 2001.

This should come as no surprise considering the fact that about 18 million people in the US were diagnosed with diabetes in 2007, an increase from 8.1 million in 1994, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dr. Alexander and colleagues analyzed prescription data from U.S. patients 35 and older with type 2 diabetes who visited a physician's office between 1994 and 2007. Information about medication costs was available from 2001 to 2007.

Dr. Alexander blamed newer, more costly drugs for this increase and said there is a need “for greater evidence regarding their safety and effectiveness” since “they cost eight to 10 times more than some of the older, more time-tested alternatives.”

The research was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the National Institutes of Health.