MedWire News: Diabetic patients are at increased risk for death from cancer and other nonvascular causes, as well as being at increased risk for death from vascular disease, compared with nondiabetics, show study results.
The Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration global team of researchers evaluated links between diabetes and cause-specific, vascular or nonvascular death in 820,900 people, aged 55 years on average, participating in 97 prospective studies. Of these, 40,116 had diabetes at baseline.
During 12.3 million person-years at risk, 123,205 deaths occurred in the overall cohort (median time to death 13.6 years) from cancer (n=41,320), vascular disease (n=44,407), other causes (n=27,661), or unknown/ill-defined causes (n=9817).
As reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers found that people with diabetes had a 1.80-fold increased risk for death from all causes compared with nondiabetics.
Regarding cause-specific death, diabetics had a 2.32-fold risk for vascular death and a 1.73- and 1.25-fold increased risk for death from other causes or cancer, respectively, compared with nondiabetic people. Levels of glucose above 100 mg/dl were also linked to increased mortality in diabetic patients.
Death from other causes included death from renal or liver disease, pneumonia and other infectious diseases, mental disorders, digestive diseases, external causes, intentional self harm, nervous-system disorders, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Risks were reduced after adjustment for measures of glycemia, but not after adjustment for blood pressure, lipid levels, inflammation, or renal markers.
The authors estimated from their findings that a 50-year-old person with diabetes is likely to die an average of 6 years earlier than a nondiabetic person of the same age, and that about 40% of the survival difference is caused by excess nonvascular deaths.
"These findings highlight the need to better understand and prevent the multisystem consequences of diabetes," conclude the investigators.
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