Al-Maskari et al. BMC Public Health 2010, 10:679 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/679 thanks go to Mr. Hussain Al-Ajab in Department of Community Medicine, FMHS, for his help with data analysis and the tabulation of study results. Authors’ contributions FM and MS formulated the research question and participated in the design of the study. NN performed the statistical analyses and drafted the manuscript together with FM and MS. All authors contributed to the manuscript with their interpretation of results and comments on earlier drafts. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Received: 1 September 2009 Accepted: 8 November 2010 Published: 8 November 2010 References 1. IDF Diabetes Atlas. International Diabetes Federation;, Fourth 2009 [http:// www.eatlas.idf.org/Costs_of_diabetes/Calculated_cost_estimates], Cost of diabetes: calculated cost estimates. 2. 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J Intern Med 2000, 248(5):387-96. 21. Khowaja LA, Khuwaja AK, Cosgrove P: Cost of diabetes care in out-patient clinics of Karachi, Pakistan. BMC Health Serv Res 2007, 7:189. Page 10 of 10 22. Barcelo A, Aedo C, Rajpathak S, Robles S: The cost of diabetes in Latin America and the Caribbean. Bull World Health Organ 2003, 81(1):19-27. 23. Jonsson B: The economic impact of diabetes. Diabetes Care 1998, 21(Suppl 3):C7-10. Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/679/prepub doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-679 Cite this article as: Al-Maskari et al.: Assessment of the direct medical costs of diabetes mellitus and its complications in the United Arab Emirates. BMC Public Health 2010 10:679. 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