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CDC: Diabetes-related complications have declined over past 20 years
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published in the New England Journal of Medicine show a decline in five major diabetes-related complications in U.S. adults over the past 20 years.
Study findings demonstrated decreases in rates of lower-limb amputation, end-stage kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and hyperglycemia-related mortality.
“These findings show that we have come a long way in preventing complications and improving quality of life for people with diabetes,” the study said. “While the declines in complications are good news, they are still high and will stay with us unless we can make substantial progress in preventing type 2 diabetes,” Edward W. Gregg, PhD, senior epidemiologist in CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation, said in a press release.
The research team extracted data from the National Health Interview Survey, the National Hospital Discharge Survey, the U.S. Renal Data System and the U.S. National Vital Statistics System. Rates of comorbid illness and mortality were examined from 1990 to 2010 in study participants whose age was standardized to the U.S. population in the year 2000.
Recent CDC data demonstrated a decline in rates of five complications related to diabetes.
Source: CDC 2014.
Statistical analysis showed that rates of all five complications within the study’s scope declined between 1990 and 2010, with the largest relative declines in acute myocardial infarction (−67.8%; 95% CI, −76.2 to −59.3) and death from hyperglycemic crisis (−64.4%; 95% CI, −68.0 to −60.9).
Incidence of stroke declined by −52.7% and amputation by −51.4%.
End-stage renal disease showed the smallest decline, but at −28.3% (95% CI, −34.6 to −21.6), the data still showed an improvement in health problems related to diabetes. Significantly, researchers saw that rate reductions were larger among adults with diabetes than among adults without diabetes, demonstrating a reduction in the relative risk of complications associated with diabetes specifically.
“Preventive care for adults with diabetes has improved substantially in recent decades,” researchers wrote. “Rates of diabetes-related complications have declined substantially in the past two decades, but a large burden of disease persists because of the continued increase in the prevalence of diabetes.”
Disclosure: This study was funded by the CDC.