Early onset diabetes can cut life by 10yrs

PEOPLE with type 1 diabetes at a young age can expect to die ten years earlier than those diagnosed later in life, say researchers.

Life expectancy for individuals with younger onset disease is also on average 16 years shorter than people without diabetes, the findings published in The Lancet show.

Around half of individuals with type 1 diabetes are diagnosed before the age of 14.

The authors of the study said it highlights a need to consider wider and earlier use of cardioprotective measures such as statins and blood pressure lowering drugs for those affected.

Their findings suggest that individuals diagnosed before the age of ten have a 30 times greater risk of serious cardiovascular outcomes such as heart attack and heart disease than those in the general population.

In comparison, risk levels are around six times higher for people diagnosed between the ages of 26 and 30.

They also found that patients with younger-onset type 1 diabetes are four times as likely to die from any cause and have more than seven times the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than their diabetes-free counterparts.

In contrast, people first diagnosed between the ages of 26 and 30 face a lower risk of dying from any cause and cardiovascular disease compared with their peers without diabetes.

Study co-author Professor Naveed Sattar, of the University of Glasgow, said: ‘The excess risk compared to healthy controls is much higher in those who developed diabetes when younger.

‘Those who develop type 1 diabetes when under ten experience the greatest losses in life expectancy, compared to healthy controls.’