Average Life Expectancy of Diabetes Patients is Less Than the General Population
Average person with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) will live almost eight years less than the average person in the general population without diabetes, while those with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) will live around two years less, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Cardiovascular Endocrinology & Metabolism.
The authors used various data for their analysis. The UK National Diabetes Audit (NDA) published, for 2015-16, the all-cause standardized death ratio for people with T1DM and T2DM, along with data on their age and sex. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published for 2015-17 actual death rates of the general population for each age year and sex.
‘A healthy diet, maintaining normal body weight, regular physical activity, and avoiding tobacco use are ways to prevent or delay the diabetes onset. ’
In their model, the authors used relative NDA mortality rates to population rates for each age/sex, and then measured the future life expectancy for T1DM/T2DM/non-DM populations.
The model revealed the 'average' person with T2DM has a life expectancy of 18.6 years than the 20.3 years for the equivalent non-diabetic population, corresponding to lost life years (LLY) of 1.7 years/average person with T2DM.
Compared with the average LLY for men, the average LLY/person was 21 percent higher for women with T1DM and 45 percent higher for women with T2DM.
They conclude: "Linking poor glycaemic control to expected death in such a quantitative way may incentivize clinicians and diabetes patients and poor blood sugar control to improve their efforts to achieve targets."
Source: Medindia