Poorly Controlled Type 1 Diabetes Life Expectancy

How Type 2 Diabetes Affects Life Expectancy

Type 2 diabetes typically shows up later in life, although the incidence in younger people is increasing. The disease, which is characterized by high blood glucose (sugar), or hyperglycemia, usually results from a combination of unhealthy lifestyle habits, obesity, and genes. Over time, untreated hyperglycemia can lead to serious, life-threatening complications. Type 2 diabetes also puts you at risk for certain health conditions that can reduce your life expectancy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes is the 7th most common cause of death in the United States. However, there is no defining statistic to tell you how long you’ll live with type 2 diabetes. The better you have your diabetes under control, the lower your risk for developing associated conditions that may shorten your lifespan. The top cause of death for people with type 2 diabetes is cardiovascular disease. This is due to the fact that high blood sugar levels can damage blood vessels, and also because people with type 2 diabetes often have high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and other factors that increase the risk of heart disease. When you have type 2 diabetes, there are many factors that can increase your risk of complications, and these complications can impact your life expectancy. They include: High blood sugar levels: Uncontrolled high blood sugar levels affect many organs and contribute to the development of complications. High blood pressure: According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), 71 percent of people with diabetes have high blood pressure. High blood pressure increases the risk of kidney disease, stroke, cardiovascular disease, and other complications. Lipid disorders: According to the ADA, 65 percent of those with diabetes have high low- Continue reading >>

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes (insulin dependent diabetes, juvenile) is a condition in which the body stops making insulin. This causes the person's blood sugar to increase. There are two types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2. In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas is attacked by the immune system and then it cannot produce insulin. In type 2 diabetes the pancreas can produce insulin, but the body can't use it. Causes of type 1 diabetes are auto-immune destruction of the pancreatic beta cells. This can be caused by viruses and infections as well as other risk factors. In many cases, the cause is not known. Scientists are looking for cures for type 1 diabetes such as replacing the pancreas or some of its cells. Risk factors for type 1 diabetes are family history, introducing certain foods too soon (fruit) or too late (oats/rice) to babies, and exposure to toxins. Symptoms of type 1 diabetes are skin infections, bladder or vaginal infections, and Sometimes, there are no significant symptoms. Type 1 diabetes is diagnosed by blood tests. The level of blood sugar is measured, and then levels of insulin and antibodies can be measured to confirm type 1 vs. type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is treated with insulin and lifestyle changes. Specifically, meal planning to ensure carbohydrate intake matches insulin dosing. Complications of type 1 diabetes are kidney disease, eye problems, heart disease, and nerve problems (diabetic neuropathy) such as loss of feeling in the feet. Poor wound healing can also be a complication of type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented, however, keeping blood sugar at healthy levels may delay or prevent symptoms or complications. There is currently no cure, and most cases of type 1 diabetes have no known cause. The prognosis or life-expectancy for a person with Continue reading >>

Diabetes, Type 1

YESTERDAY In the 1950s, about one in five people died within 20 years after a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. One in three people died within 25 years of diagnosis. About one in four people developed kidney failure within 25 years of a type 1 diabetes diagnosis. Doctors could not detect early kidney disease and had no tools for slowing its progression to kidney failure. Survival after kidney failure was poor, with one of 10 patients dying each year. About 90 percent of people with type 1 diabetes developed diabetic retinopathy within 25 years of diagnosis. Blindness from diabetic retinopathy was responsible for about 12 percent of new cases of blindness between the ages of 45 and 74. Studies had not proven the value of laser surgery in reducing blindness. Major birth defects in the offspring of mothers with type 1 diabetes were three times higher than in the general population. Patients relied on injections of animal-derived insulin. The insulin pump would soon be introduced but would not become widely used for years. Studies had not yet shown the need for intensive glucose control to delay or prevent the debilitating eye, nerve, kidney, heart, and blood vessel complications of diabetes. Also, the importance of blood pressure control in preventing complications had not been established yet. Patients monitored their glucose levels with urine tests, which recognized high but not dangerously low glucose levels and reflected past, not current, glucose levels. More reliable methods for testing glucose levels in the blood had not been developed yet. Researchers had just discovered autoimmunity as the underlying cause of type 1 diabetes. However, they couldn’t assess an individual’s level of risk for developing type 1 diabetes, and they didn’t know enough to even consider Continue reading >>

Life Expectancy For Type 1 Diabetes

New study shows recent improvement in years of life lost. With minimal studies to evaluate the impact of type 1 diabetes on life expectancy, studies have been developed to retrospectively look at the effects of diabetes on mortality. Diabetes was also compared to other disease states and causes that had an influence on years of life lost (YLL). The YLL of patients with type 1 diabetes and patients with other disease states were compared to those of the general healthy population. This autoimmune disorder accounts for 10% of all Americans diagnosed with diabetes, and the ability to prevent the development of type 1 diabetes is minimal. Causes have been linked to genetics, and viral infections such as mumps, rubella, cytomegalovirus, measles, influenza, encephalitis, polio, or Epstein-Barr virus. In a study conducted on Australians with type 1 diabetes between the years of 1997 and 2010, researchers looked at the estimated YLL of the type 1 diabetic patients compared to the general public. Researchers used the Chiang method to estimate life expectancy and Arriaga’s method to estimate the impact of age-specific and cause-specific mortalities. Results showed no disparity in terms of YLL from type 1 diabetes in women vs. men. When the YLL was organized into two groups, 1997-2003 and 2004-2010, the 2004-2010 groups showed improvement in life expectancies of 1.9 years in men and 1.5 years in women. Overall, over the time period of the study, patients with type 1 diabetes had a life expectancy of 12.2 years less than the general population. The majority of the YLL was attributed to endocrine and metabolic diseases that occurred between the ages of 10-39, and circulatory diseases that occurred after the age of 40. Medical advances over the years may account for the YLL improve Continue reading >>

Type 1 Diabetes May Cut Life Span, But Intensive Treatment Can Help Close The Gap

People with type 1 diabetes may have a shorter life expectancy than their peers, but intensive treatment may help offset that risk, say two separate new studies. In the first study, published in JAMA, Shona J. Livingstone of the University of Dundee in Scotland and her colleagues compared the life expectancy of Scottish men and women ages 20 and older who had type 1 diabetes to a group of adults without the condition. Life expectancy after age 20 was an additional 46.2 years among men with type 1 diabetes, but 57.3 years among men without the condition, an estimated loss of 11.1 years. Find the Best Diabetes Blogs of the Year » The life expectancy after age 20 for women with type 1 diabetes was an additional 48.1 years, compared to 61 years among women without it, an estimated loss of 12.9 years for women with diabetes. In the general population without type 1 diabetes, 76 percent of men and 83 percent of women lived to age 70, compared with 47 percent of men and 55 percent of women with type 1 diabetes. The study also showed that even patients with type 1 diabetes who still had good kidney function had reduced life expectancy. Heart Disease, Diabetic Comas Are Common Causes of Death Dr. Helen Colhoun, a professor of public health at the University of Dundee and a co-author of the study, told Healthline that heart disease, heart attacks, and diabetic comas were responsible for the largest percentage of the estimated loss in life expectancy for patients younger than 50. Colhoun said, “The data are good news for people with type 1 diabetes. They show much better average life expectancy than older reports from other countries. At the same time, they also show that further work needs to be done to get to a goal of no reduction in life span. These data emphasize that effo Continue reading >>

Type 1 Diabetes

Print Overview Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin. Insulin is a hormone needed to allow sugar (glucose) to enter cells to produce energy. Different factors, including genetics and some viruses, may contribute to type 1 diabetes. Although type 1 diabetes usually appears during childhood or adolescence, it can develop in adults. Despite active research, type 1 diabetes has no cure. Treatment focuses on managing blood sugar levels with insulin, diet and lifestyle to prevent complications. Symptoms Type 1 diabetes signs and symptoms can appear relatively suddenly and may include: Increased thirst Frequent urination Bed-wetting in children who previously didn't wet the bed during the night Extreme hunger Unintended weight loss Irritability and other mood changes Fatigue and weakness Blurred vision When to see a doctor Consult your doctor if you notice any of the above signs and symptoms in you or your child. Causes The exact cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown. Usually, the body's own immune system — which normally fights harmful bacteria and viruses — mistakenly destroys the insulin-producing (islet, or islets of Langerhans) cells in the pancreas. Other possible causes include: Genetics Exposure to viruses and other environmental factors The role of insulin Once a significant number of islet cells are destroyed, you'll produce little or no insulin. Insulin is a hormone that comes from a gland situated behind and below the stomach (pancreas). The pancreas secretes insulin into the bloodstream. Insulin circulates, allowing sugar to enter your cells. Insulin lowers the amount of sugar in your bloodstream. As your blood sugar level drops, so does the secre Continue reading >>

Living Longer With Diabetes: Type 1

When you’re diagnosed with diabetes, you may wonder, “Is this going to kill me? How long can I live with this?” These are scary questions. Fortunately, the answers have gotten better. This article is about living longer with Type 1. Next week will be about Type 2. History of life with Type 1 In Type 1, the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas are destroyed. Before insulin was discovered and made injectable, Type 1 diabetes usually killed children within months, or even days. The only treatment known to medicine was going on a low-carb, high-fat and -protein diet. People might live a few years that way. According to the website Defeat Diabetes, “In 1897, the average life expectancy for a 10-year-old child with diabetes was about one year. Diagnosis at age 30 carried a life expectancy of about four years. A newly diagnosed 50-year-old might live eight more years.” (Probably, those 50-year-olds really had Type 2.) In the 1920s, insulin was discovered and became available for use. Life expectancy with Type 1 went up dramatically. But when I started nursing in the 1970s, it was still common for people with Type 1 to die before age 50. With better insulins, home testing, and lower-carbohydrate diets, people live longer. A study from the University of Pittsburgh, published in 2012, found that people with Type 1 diabetes born after 1965 had a life expectancy of 69 years. This compares to a life expectancy at birth of roughly 76 years for men and 81 years for women in the general population in the U.S. A new study of about 25,000 people with Type 1 in Scotland found that men with Type 1 diabetes lose about 11 years of life expectancy, and women about 13 years compared to those without the disease. According to WebMD, “Heart disease accounted for the most lost Continue reading >>

Diabetes And Life Expectancy: What Effect Does Type 2 Diabetes Have?

Diabetes can cause serious health complications and have an impact on life expectancy. How much a person's life is reduced depends on a combination of factors, such as the severity of the case, additional complications, and response to treatment. After being diagnosed, most people with diabetes want to know how the condition will affect the length and quality of their life. Each individual varies, but maintaining healthy blood sugar levels often has the largest influence on life expectancy. Relatively few studies have examined the link between diabetes and life expectancy, especially on a large scale. As a result, doctors aren't entirely sure how diabetes relates to how long people with the condition will live. This article will explore more. Fast facts on diabetes and life expectancy: While some estimates exist, there is no way to know exactly how diabetes will affect life expectancy. Type 2 diabetes is thought to have less of an effect on life expectancy than type 1 because people typically develop the condition much later in life. Generally, anything that helps maintain or contribute to healthy blood sugar levels can reduce the toll diabetes takes. What is the life expectancy of people with type 2 diabetes? A 2010 report by Diabetes UK claims type 2 diabetes reduces life expectancy by roughly 10 years. The same report states that type 1 diabetes may reduce life expectancy by at least 20 years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average life expectancy in 2014 for American men was 76.4 years and women 81.2 years. A 2012 Canadian study found that women aged 55 years and over with diabetes lost on average 6 years of life while men lost 5 years. Also, a 2015 study concluded that the risk of death associated with type 2 diabetes could b Continue reading >>

Life Expectancy Increases For People With Type 1

An Australian study finds people with Type 1 are living longer, but not as long as the average population. A new study on life expectancy and Type 1 diabetes has brought results that can be seen as glass half-empty or glass half-full. The bad news is that life expectancy for people with Type 1 is still shorter than that of the average population; the good news is that people with Type 1 are living longer than ever before. For the study, Australian researchers used government data to measure the life expectancy of people with Type 1 from 1997 to 2010, according to a report in Diabetes in Control. By the end of the study period, men with Type 1 had gained an average of 1.9 years in life expectancy, while women with Type 1 had gained 1.5 years in the same time period. People with Type 1 still had a life expectancy that was 12 years shorter, on average, than that of the average population, however. Researchers attribute the gains in lifespan to rapid medical advances, emerging research, and deepening understanding of Type 1 diabetes. When it comes to children with Type 1, more children are being diagnosed earlier, and intensive insulin therapy is beginning at a younger age to get blood sugar levels under control. Also, insulin pump and blood sugar monitoring technology has improved greatly in the 21st century, creating the possibility for better long-term blood sugar control. With the promise of the development of new therapeutic techniques and smarter pumps, there’s hope that the gap in life expectancy between those with and without Type 1 can continue to close. Thanks for reading this Insulin Nation article. Want more Type 1 news? Subscribe here. Have Type 2 diabetes or know someone who does? Try Type 2 Nation, our sister publication. Continue reading >>

My Sister Died Because She Didn't Take Diabetes Seriously

When Yolanda Acuna Ocana was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, her family was almost relieved. She was 14 and had been suffering from inexplicable weight loss, constant thirst and tiredness, and they were grateful for a diagnosis. Now — sadly — they feel very differently about diabetes. Last April, aged just 39, Yolanda died as a result of the disease, leaving behind a loving husband and devoted family. ‘No one expects diabetes to kill someone so young in this day and age,’ says Yolanda’s sister, Nicky Dixon, 38, a company director from Surbiton, Surrey. People often think diabetes, type 1 or type 2, is not a serious condition, says Dr Jeremy Allgrove, a paediatric endocrinologist at Barts and the London NHS Trust. ‘But if you don’t look after yourself, it’s a killer.’ The figures are stark: type 1 diabetes reduces life expectancy on average by 20 years. The condition is caused by the body attacking the cells of the pancreas responsible for making insulin. Insulin helps the body break down glucose from food and turn it into energy; without it, blood sugar levels become dangerously high, causing damage to blood vessels. Around 300,000 Britons have the condition. It can run in families, but experts believe the condition is usually triggered, possibly by some sort of virus. Unlike type 2 diabetes, type 1 is characterised by insulin dependence — once diagnosed, a patient must inject themselves daily for the rest of their life. The problem is that many people don’t take their insulin as they should, with potentially fatal consequences. Yolanda was supposed to inject herself seven times a day, but when she left home for university at 18, she reduced her intake because the jabs were causing her to put on weight. This growing trend has even been given a name Continue reading >>

Life Expectancy For Type 1 Diabetes May Be Improving

On average, people with type 1 diabetes die 11 to 13 years earlier than people without the condition, according to a new study from Scotland. While the news may be disheartening for people with type 1 diabetes, the study’s senior researcher said the new results are more encouraging than previous estimates that found larger gaps in life expectancies. An important message is that the difference in life expectancy is narrowing, said Dr. Helen Colhoun of the University of Dundee School of Medicine in Scotland. “It’s not zero,” she said. “The goal is to get it to zero.” Among people with type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile diabetes, the body’s immune system destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Insulin removes sugar from the bloodstream so it can be used for energy. Instead, those people need to inject insulin and pay special attention to their blood sugar – or glucose – levels. Untreated, type 1 diabetes can lead to heart, blood vessel, kidney, eye, and nerve damage. About 29.1 million Americans have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 5 percent of those have type 1 diabetes. The researchers write in JAMA that according to earlier data from the U.K., people there with type 1 diabetes died an average of 15 to 20 years earlier than nondiabetics. A 1970s report put the decrease in life expectancy at 27 years for type 1 diabetics in the U.S., and a 1980s report from New Zealand put it at 16.5 years. “They’re mostly very old,” Colhoun said of the estimates. She said the correct information is important, because it shows how far care for type 1 diabetes has come. For the new study, the researchers used national data from Scotland on 24,691 people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes from 2008 to 2010. Continue reading >>

Diabetes Life Expectancy

Tweet After diabetes diagnosis, many type 1 and type 2 diabetics worry about their life expectancy. Death is never a pleasant subject but it's human nature to want to know 'how long can I expect to live'. There is no hard and fast answer to the question of ‘how long can I expect to live’ as a number of factors influence one’s life expectancy. How soon diabetes was diagnosed, the progress of diabetic complications and whether one has other existing conditions will all contribute to one’s life expectancy - regardless of whether the person in question has type 1 or type 2 diabetes. How long can people with diabetes expect to live? Diabetes UK estimates in its report, Diabetes in the UK 2010: Key Statistics on Diabetes[5], that the life expectancy of someone with type 2 diabetes is likely to be reduced, as a result of the condition, by up to 10 years. People with type 1 diabetes have traditionally lived shorter lives, with life expectancy having been quoted as being reduced by over 20 years. However, improvement in diabetes care in recent decades indicates that people with type 1 diabetes are now living significantly longer. Results of a 30 year study by the University of Pittsburgh, published in 2012, noted that people with type 1 diabetes born after 1965 had a life expectancy of 69 years.[76] How does diabetic life expectancy compare with people in general? The Office for National Statistics estimates life expectancy amongst new births to be: 77 years for males 81 years for females. Amongst those who are currently 65 years old, the average man can expect to live until 83 years old and the average woman to live until 85 years old. What causes a shorter life expectancy in diabetics? Higher blood sugars over a period of time allow diabetic complications to set in, su Continue reading >>

What Is The Life Expectancy For Diabetics?

Diabetes is recognized as one of the leading causes of disability and death worldwide. There was a time when Type 2 diabetes was common in people in their late forties and fifties. However, thanks to the easy availability of processed foods, sedentary lifestyles, poor sleep and a host of other unfavorable factors, type 2 diabetes affects millions of young adults throughout the globe today. A report was commissioned in 2010 by the National Academy on an Aging Society. It showed that diabetes cut off an average of 8.5 years from the lifespan of a regular, diabetic 50-year-old as compared to a 50-year-old without the disease. This data was provided by the Health and Retirement Study, a survey of more than 20,000 Americans over the age of 50, done every two years by the University of Michigan. Characterized by high blood glucose levels, T2D can be the result of a combination of genes, obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle. If left untreated, diabetes can be life-threatening. Complications of this disease can take a serious toll on a patient’s health and well-being. So, how long do diabetics live, you ask? Does having diabetes shorten one’s life? Let’s address these questions, one by one. MORE: Decoding The Dawn Phenomenon (High Morning Blood Sugar) How Long Do Diabetics Live? Diabetes is a system-wide disorder which is categorized by elevated blood glucose levels. This blood travels throughout the human body and when it is laden with sugar, it damages multiple systems. When the condition is left unchecked or is managed poorly, the lifespan of diabetic patients is reduced due to constant damage. Early diagnosis and treatment of diabetes for preventing its long-term complications is the best coping strategy. So, don’t ignore your doctor’s advice if you’re pre-diabeti Continue reading >>

5 Common Type 1 Diabetes Complications

3 0 Type 1 diabetes carries with it a much higher risk of developing some associated serious health problems. While in the past, getting diabetes-related health complications was almost a certainty, with modern blood glucose monitoring, control, and treatment, the risks have decreased significantly. Even a few decades ago, life expectancy for people with diabetes was regularly considered to be 10 years shorter than for people without the disorder. In 2012, however, a large-scale study found that life-expectancy was now only about 6 years less than average. For comparison, a lifetime of smoking will reduce life expectancy by 10 years. So what are the diabetes complications that you need to be looking out for? Largely, they fall into either cardiovascular or neuropathic categories. To make diabetes complications even more complicated, they tend to affect people of different sexes and different ethnicities differently. One more wild card is that recent studies have found that some people with Type 1 diabetes actually never develop most of the complications associated with diabetes. The good news is that with proper blood glucose control and a healthy lifestyle, the risks for developing Type 1 diabetes complications are drastically reduced. Some studies have actually found that careful monitoring and management can reduce the chances of developing any of these by as much as 50%. Still, everyone with Type 1 diabetes should keep a careful eye out for the five most common diabetes complications. Diabetic Ketoacidosis Diabetic Ketoacidosis (or DKA), is a condition caused by severe hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) which causes rapid fat breakdown in the body. As the fat breaks down, they release fatty acids which are then converted into chemicals called ketones, which are highly Continue reading >>

Type 1 Diabetes Linked To Lower Life Expectancy

HealthDay Reporter today lose more than a decade of life to the chronic disease, despite improved treatment of both diabetes and its complications, a new Scottish study reports. Men with type 1 diabetes lose about 11 years of life expectancy compared to men without the disease. And, women with type 1 diabetes have their lives cut short by about 13 years, according to a report published in the Jan. 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The findings "provide a more up-to-date quantification of how much type 1 diabetes cuts your life span now, in our contemporary era," said senior author Dr. Helen Colhoun, a clinical professor in the diabetes epidemiology unit of the University of Dundee School of Medicine in Scotland. Diabetes' impact on heart health appeared to be the largest single cause of lost years, according to the study. But, the researchers also found that type 1 diabetics younger than 50 are dying in large numbers from conditions caused by issues in management of the disease -- diabetic coma caused by critically low blood sugar, and ketoacidosis caused by a lack of insulin in the body. "These conditions really reflect the day-to-day challenge that people with type 1 diabetes continue to face, how to get the right amount of insulin delivered at the right time to deal with your blood sugar levels," Colhoun said. A second study, also in JAMA, suggested that some of these early deaths might be avoided with intensive blood sugar management. In that paper, researchers reduced patients' overall risk of premature death by about a third, compared with diabetics receiving standard care, by conducting multiple blood glucose tests throughout the day and constantly adjusting insulin levels to hit very specific blood sugar levels. "Across the board, indiv Continue reading >>