Diabetes News and Treatment
Diabetes Mortality High Despite Better Management
Since management of type 1 diabetes improved markedly in the 1980s, survival rates in those with the disease have improved as well, but mortality is still much higher than that in the general population, according to research published in the December issue of Diabetes Care.
TUESDAY, Nov. 30 (HealthDay News) — Since management of type 1 diabetes improved markedly in the 1980s, survival rates in those with the disease have improved as well, but mortality is still much higher than that in the general population, according to research published in the December issue of Diabetes Care.
Aaron M. Secrest, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues studied data from an Allegheny County registry of childhood-onset type 1 diabetes.
The researchers found the death rate in people with type 1 diabetes to be seven-fold higher than their expectations, though standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) based on local mortality data showed an improving trend by diagnosis cohort at 30 years of diabetes duration (SMRs, 9.3 for 1965 to 1969, 7.5 for 1970 to 1974, and 5.6 for 1975 to 1979). Women with type 1 diabetes had a risk of dying 13 times that of age-matched women in the general population, and African-Americans had a significantly lower 30-year survival rate than Caucasians.
“Although survival has clearly improved, those with diabetes diagnosed most recently (1975 to 1979) still had a mortality rate 5.6 times higher than that seen in the general population, revealing a continuing need for improvements in treatment and care, particularly for women and African-Americans with type 1 diabetes,” the authors write.
Skyrocketing Diabetes Costs Point to Need for More Preventive Care, Largest Insurer Says
With the costs of diabetes care expected to skyrocket in the next 10 years, providers need to develop improved preventive care and early intervention strategies for the condition, according to a release by UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest insurer.
If nothing more is done, the annual cost of treatment for diabetes and pre-diabetes would grow from an estimated $194 billion this year to $500 billion in 2020 and the 10-year cost would reach $3.35 trillion, UnitedHealth’s Center for Health Reform & Modernization predicted.
The center said more programs to prevent and control diabetes could save up to $250 billion over the next 10 years. “What is now needed is concerted, national, multi-stakeholder action,” said Simon Stevens, executive vice president at UnitedHealth and chairman of the center. He cited the need to “engage consumers in new ways, while working to scale nationally some of the most promising preventive care models.”