Diabetes deaths 'underestimated'

In most cases the disease kills indirectly by leading to strokes, heart attacks or kidney failure. Often it is not recorded on death certificates. For this reason the number of deaths attributable to diabetes has consistently been underestimated, say experts.

The new figures compiled by the charity Diabetes UK indicate that the disease is responsible for 11.6% of deaths among 20 to 79-year-olds in England. They were calculated by combining research evidence, diabetes prevalence estimates and population and mortality data.

Adults under 80 with diabetes were twice as likely to die as those without the condition, said the charity. It predicted that if current trends continued, one in eight deaths in the same age group would be attributable to diabetes by 2010.

Douglas Smallwood, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: "These new figures are truly alarming and confirm that diabetes is one of the biggest health challenges facing the UK today. There are currently 2.3 million people diagnosed with diabetes and more than half a million people are unaware they have the condition.

"Good self-management, awareness, and improved access to specialist diabetes care services are crucial if we are to curb this growing health crisis and see a reduction in the number of people dying from diabetes and complications attributed to the condition."

The vast majority of people with diabetes have the "type 2" version of the disease, which is associated with unhealthy lifestyles and obesity. Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) with the highest percentage of diabetes-attributable deaths were in areas with a higher than average proportion of people over the age of 40.

They also tended to have large numbers of older people of Asian and Afro-Caribbean origin who are at greater risk of type 2 diabetes. Poverty was another characteristic of regions with a high diabetes death rate.

The percentage of diabetes-attributable deaths varied between 9% in affluent Buckinghamshire to 17% in deprived Newham, east London. Around 80% of people with diabetes die as a result of heart and artery disease. High blood sugar levels can damage blood vessels, resulting in a stroke or heart attack.

Diabetes is also the main cause of end-stage renal failure, an irreversible decline in kidney function. The disease is directly responsible for death on relatively rare occasions.