Study suggests later Type-1 diabetes diagnosis increases risk of death

WASHINGTON According to the journal Diabetes Care, people diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in young adulthood are at a greater risk for death than those diagnosed in childhood.

A study of over 4,200 patients showed that, of these patients, 3349 were diagnosed between the ages of 0 and 14 years and 897 were diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 29 years. The younger group was followed for an average of 12.8 years, and the older group was followed for an average of 8.3 years.

During the course of the study, 108 patients died, including 74 in the younger group and 34 in the older group. Of the 108 deaths, 47 resulted from diabetes complications.

Overall, the diabetics in the study were 4.7 times more likely to die during follow-up than similar-aged individuals drawn from the general population.

The relative death risk, however, differed for younger and older diabetic patients. In individuals between 15 and 29 years of age, diabetes increased the risk of death by 6.2-fold, whereas in younger people, the disease raised the risk by 4.2-fold. The risk of death increased with increasing disease duration, the report indicates.