Cancer is now the leading cause of death among people with diabetes in England, suggest the findings of an 18-year study conducted by Imperial College London and published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
The research reveals that between 2001 and 2018, heart disease and stroke were no longer the leading causes of death among people with diabetes, as they were 18 years ago.
The study examined anonymised primary care data from 313,907 people in England with diabetes and linked these with death data from the Office for National Statistics.
The data revealed death rates for those with diabetes declined in the study period by 32 per cent for men and 31 per cent for women.
The findings also showed people with diabetes were more likely to die from dementia, liver disease or respiratory disease in 2018 than people without diabetes.
Death rates were higher in those with diabetes compared with those without in almost all causes studied. Mortality rates for liver disease and dementia were twice as high in those with diabetes compared to those without in 2018, whereas respiratory death rates were 80 per cent higher.
Commenting on the findings, Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, lead author of the study, said: "Improvements in risk factors such as smoking and blood pressure, along with progress in medical treatments have contributed to large falls in deaths from heart disease and stroke. The improvements have been even greater in those with diabetes. This has resulted in vascular conditions accounting for around 25 per cent of all deaths in those with diabetes compared to 45 per cent 20 years ago."
"In contrast, improvements in cancer death rates have been much more modest, with improvements in those with diabetes lagging behind the general population. It is striking that cancer is now the leading cause of death in England among people with diabetes and the leading contributor to excess death compared to those without diabetes. Added to this is the fact the UK continues to lag behind other EU countries in terms of cancer survival rates."
The authors call for guidance around the treatment of diabetes to be updated to ensure patients and clinicians are aware of the breadth of conditions this patient population are at a higher risk of, including cancer, dementia and liver disease.
