Type 1 diabetes more fatal for women than for men
A study in Australia has found that women with Type 1 diabetes are twice as likely to die from heart disease, compared to their male counterparts.
Lead author Rachel Huxley, from the University of Queensland, says in a statement: “We know that people with type 1 diabetes have shorter life expectancies than the general population, from both acute and long-term diabeticcomplications. But, until now, it was not clear whether this excess risk of mortality is the same in women and men with the disease.”
Autoimmune disease
A person with type 1 diabetes cannot produce insulin themselves. It is known as an autoimmune condition, because the body’s defences, the immune system, wrongly attack the cells in the pancreas responsible for making insulin. As a result the patient needs to take insulin to manage their blood sugar levels.
If people with poorly managed blood sugar levels, damage can occur over time to the nerves and small blood vessels of the eyes, kidneys and heart. This can predispose a person to atherosclerosis (hardening and narrowing) of the arteries that can cause heart attacks and stroke.
The researchers examined data from 26 studies involving 214,114 individuals with type 1 diabetes. They found that:
- Women with the disease were 37% more likely to die from any cause than men
- Women with type 1 diabetes also face an excess risk of strokes (37% higher than men)
- Women are 44% more likely to die from kidney disease than men with the disorder
- Women have nearly double the excess risk of developing or dying from cardiovascular disease than men.
However, the authors of the study, which is published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, say that type 1 diabetes is not linked with an increased risk of death from cancers in either sex.
Category: Features, Health alert
