Diabetes, eczema risk and obesity

Dramatic decline in diabetes deaths

Diabetologia (2013) DOI:10.1007/s00125-013-2949-2

Mortality among people with diabetes in the UK fell by 55 per cent between 1996 and 2009 despite the prevalence almost doubling, new research shows.

Researchers calculated mortality rates between January 1996 and December 2009 among people aged more than 20 years with and without diabetes using healthcare databases from Ontario, Canada, and The Health Improvement Network (THIN) from the UK. Mortality rates in the UK were standardised to the Canadian Census population to allow comparisons between the two countries.

In the UK, diabetes prevalence increased from 3.2 per cent in 1996 to 5.9 per cent in 2009. The annual mortality rate adjusted for age- and sex in people with and without diabetes in the UK declined by 55.0 per cent and 41.6 per cent respectively over this time.