More years lost for whites versus South Asians, blacks with T2DM

(HealthDay)—Whites with type 2 diabetes have more life years lost than South Asians or blacks, according to a study published online Dec. 20 in Diabetes Care.

Alison K. Wright, Ph.D., from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a cohort study using Clinical Practice Research Datalink data from 383 general practices in England. A total of 187,968 patients with incident type 2 diabetes were matched to 908,016 controls.

The researchers found that there were 40,286 deaths among patients with type 2 diabetes. Compared to those without diabetes, white men with diabetes lost five years of life, and white women lost six years, at age 40. South Asians and blacks with diabetes had a loss of one to two years. South Asians with diabetes had life expectancy that was up to 1.1 years longer than South Asians without diabetes at age older than 65 years. South Asians with diabetes had lower adjusted risks for mortality from cardiovascular, cancer, and respiratory diseases compared with whites with diabetes (hazard ratios, 0.82, 0.43, and 0.60, respectively). There was a similar pattern for blacks with diabetes versus whites with diabetes.

"The findings support optimized cardiovascular disease risk factor management, especially in whites with type 2 diabetes," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.