Alcohol Related to a Third of Type 1 Diabetic Deaths

Fri, 09 Sep 2011
Alcohol is a key cause of death for those who have type 1 diabetes.

Alcohol and drugs are the causes of 39% of total deaths in type 1 diabetics in their first 20 years following diagnosis.

These research findings have been published on bmj.com.

Finnish researchers monitored 17,306 type 1 diabetics between 1970 and 1999 when they were aged less than 30, for an average 21 years. Over the study period, survival within the early-onset group (0-14) improved due to fewer chronic diabetes related complications in the 20 years upon diagnosis.

However, mortality increased over the study period amongst those who were late-onset (15 to 29) type 1 diabetics, due to an increase in alcohol and drug related deaths and an increase in fatalities due to acute diabetes related complications.

In the late-onset group, 39% of deaths in the initial two decades upon diagnosis were alcohol or drug related, an increase of 2.6 times since 1985.

The effect of alcohol is devastating on the health of anyone, especially the young. It is vital that the youth are monitored and discouraged from excessively drinking as it causes fatalities amongst them.

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