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Diabetes Life expectancy is reduced by 9 years
Diabetes is a widespread disease all over the world. It is often referred to as diabetes, which includes a group of metabolic diseases. Researchers have now found that people with diabetes on average have up to nine years shorter life expectancy.
Researchers at the internationally renowned University of Oxford and Peking University in China found that diagnosed diabetes reduces life expectancy by up to nine years on average. This was mainly due to inadequate treatment, especially in rural areas. The physicians published the results of their study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Many people in the world are suffering from diabetes. Often, the disease is diagnosed late and treated inadequately. An investigation has now revealed that many people in China are dying from the effects of diabetes, especially in China. The disease shortens the life expectancy of those affected by up to nine years. (Image: Robert Kneschke / fotolia.com) Prevalence of diabetes in China has quadrupled
In recent decades, the prevalence of diabetes in China has quadrupled, say the experts. By now, about 100 million adults have been affected. Since such an increase in diabetes has occurred only recently, the full effect of the disease on mortality remains largely unknown.
Study includes 500,000 subjects from China
In their study, the physicians investigated the association between diabetes and mortality in 500,000 adults aged 30 to 79 years. Between 2004 and 2008, study participants in five rural and five urban areas of China were recruited. By 2014, the subjects were then medically monitored and examined for a cause-specific mortality, the researchers explain. The researchers found that people with diabetes were twice as likely to be mortal during follow-up examinations compared to the other study participants.
What increases mortality in diabetes??
Diabetes can be associated with increased mortality from a variety of conditions including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, liver disease, infections and cancer of the liver, pancreas, and breast.
Substantial improvement in the treatment of diabetes is urgently needed
In recent decades, disease-related mortality rates have been falling overall among Chinese adults. However, this decline is slowed or even halted by the effects of diabetes. For this reason, a significant improvement in the type of treatment is urgently needed, emphasize the researchers from the University of Oxford.
Diabetes more common in urban settings, but more deaths from diabetes in the countryside
Diabetes was more common in urban (8 percent) than rural China (4 percent), but the associated health risks were higher in rural than in urban areas, the researchers explain.
Inadequate treatment in China leads to more deaths
The risk of dying from inadequate treatment of the acute complications of diabetes was four times greater in rural areas than in urban areas. But even in urban areas of China, the risk of mortality was much higher than in western populations, the experts add. Even with three-quarters of known diabetics treated, their average blood glucose levels have remained far too high and few have used cardiovascular protective drugs (such as statins) or antihypertensive treatments, the researchers report.
Better management of diabetes in western high-income countries
Of the many people with diabetes in China, only a few are really old. Especially in rural areas, there are a lot of premature deaths, explains the author Fiona Bragg. Most previous studies were conducted in high-income countries. There, people with diabetes have better control over their blood glucose. Statins and antihypertensive drugs are widespread here, explain the scientists. (As)