Diabetes News: Number Of Cases Increase Due To People With Diabetes Living Longer

Increasing numbers of people with type 2 diabetes are caused by longer survival rates of people with the condition, a study on diabetes trends in Scotland has suggested. The study was published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

"Despite improved mortality rates, type 2 diabetes confers an excess risk of death compared with the non-diabetic population...there is still scope to address the increased mortality associated with diabetes," the researchers said, as per Web MD. The researchers examined diabetes trends from 2004 to 2013, studying the condition's incidence and mortality.

Higher rate of diabetes due to longer survival, not more cases https://t.co/qHu18yKSlI

— The Diabetes Care (@TheDiabetesCare) July 29, 2016

Diabetes Trends In Scotland

The researchers, who were from the University of Edinburgh, different Scottish universities and the National Health Service looked into type 2 diabetes incidence and mortality across age, sex and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation groupings, reported Science Daily. The researchers focused on people that were 39 to 90 years old.

The report said that the findings were decreased diabetes incidence rates for older men and women, slightly increased diabetes rates for younger women and increased diabetes incidence rates for younger men but the incidence rate for younger men fell after 2009. The decline in diabetes incidence rates was slower in the underprivileged groups and was found to even increase from 2010.

Mortality Rates For Diabetes On The Decline

The Daily Mail reported that the Scottish study showed type 2 diabetes mortality rates declining 11.5 percent for men and 15.7 percent for women from 2004 to 2013. Still, there were more underprivileged people who died from having diabetes.

"There is still scope to address the increased mortality associated with diabetes," the authors said. "Major inequalities by age, sex and socioeconomic status in type 2 diabetes incidence and mortality indicate that effective approaches to treatment and control will need to address existing inequalities," the authors added.