Diabetes type 1 cuts life expectancy by 13 years for Scottish women

Estimated life expectancy at 20 years of age for people with type 1 diabetes in Scotland is 11.1 years shorter for men and 12.9 years shorter for women than among the general population, a new analysis shows. The study included 24,691 individuals in Scotland with type 1 diabetes aged 20 years or older from 2008-10. Of these, 1,043 died. Life expectancy at 20 years of age was another 46.2 years among men with type 1 diabetes and 57.3 years among men without diabetes, and another 48.1 years among women with type 1 diabetes and 61.0 years among women without diabetes. In the general population, 76 per cent of men and 83 per cent of women survived to 70 years of age compared with 47 per cent of men and 55 per cent of women with type 1 diabetes. Circulatory disease accounted for 45 per cent of deaths in men and 42 per cent in women. Renal failure was the underlying cause in 5.7 and 6.2 per cent of deaths but it was diabetic coma or ketoacidosis that was associated with the largest percentage of the estimated loss in life expectancy before 50 years of age: 29.4 per cent in men and 21.7 per cent in women. Avoiding diabetes-related coma or ketoacidosis deaths would reduce the difference in life expectancy in men from 11.1 to 9.3 years. (JAMA 2015; 313:37-44)