Mortality impact of type 2 diabetes varies among groups
Wednesday September 21st 2022
Demographic and lifestyle factors affect the risk of early death from type 2 diabetes, a European conference will hear today.
A study by Dr Adrian Heald of Salford Royal Hospital, Salford, UK, and colleagues, examined details of 11,806 men and women with type 2 diabetes over a decade, ending before the pandemic.
The overall risk of premature death was 84% higher in people with type 2 diabetes than the general population. This risk was higher for women than men, even when levels of deprivation were taken into account.
Women with type 2 diabetes will die on average five years earlier than the women in the general population, the researchers reported at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, recently.
Men with type 2 diabetes will die on average 4.5 years earlier than the women in the general population.
If individuals with type 2 diabetes smoke, their life expectancy is reduced further, by ten years, the researchers found. A diagnosis of the condition before the age of 65 is linked to a reduction in life expectancy of eight years.
Dr Heald said: “Our modelling suggests that type 2 diabetes has a greater effect on the life expectancy of women, smokers and those diagnosed at a younger age.
“It is vital that the groups at the highest risk are made aware of not just the increased risk that they face but also the size of the risk.
"Doing so may make the health advice they are given seem more relevant and so help them make changes that can improve their quality - and length - of life.”
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