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Diabetes linked to increased CVD mortality risk among Chinese adults
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An increased risk for death among Chinese adults, especially from cardiovascular disease, is linked to diabetes, according to recent study findings published in Diabetes Care.
“Although diabetes is a well-established risk factor for all-cause death and CVD death, few population-based studies have examined the risk for death in people with [newly diagnosed diabetes] who were followed over a long time period,” the researchers wrote. “This is the first study to do so in China.”
Guangwei Li, MD, of China-Japan Friendship Hospital, and colleagues evaluated residents of Da Qing China aged 25 to 74 years to compare death rates and causes of death among 630 of them with newly diagnosed diabetes and 519 with normal glucose tolerance in 1986.
During a 23-year follow-up period, more participants in the diabetes group died (56.5%) compared with the normal glucose tolerance group (20.3%). The diabetes group had three times the RR for death from all causes compared with the normal glucose tolerance group.
Among the diabetes group, CVD was the cause of death in nearly half of men (47.5%) and women (49.7%). Women in the diabetes group were more likely to die of coronary heart disease (57.7%) compared with men (47.7%). Men in the diabetes group were more likely to die of stroke (52.3%) compared with women (42.3%). Among the normal glucose tolerance group, CVD mortality rates were lower at 5.3 per 1,000 person-years among men and 3.5 per 1,000 person-years among women.
“Our study is the first long-term population-based cohort study of mortality and causes of death related to diabetes in mainland China,” the researchers wrote. “It shows that diabetes was associated with a substantially increased risk of death, especially from CVD, and that in both men and women, almost half of this was due to stroke. Our study can provide more valid estimates of the excess deaths that are attributable to diabetes in mainland China and can be used to predict future mortality burden due to diabetes for China.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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