Life expectancy rises for type 1 diabetics
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Those with type 1 diabetes historically faced a shortened life expectancy. But a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health study concludes that those diagnosed since 1965 can expect a near normal lifespan.
The study led by Trevor J. Orchard, a Pitt graduate school professor of epidemiology, pediatrics and medicine, found that people diagnosed with type 1 between 1965 and 1980 had a life expectancy of 68.8 years, as compared to the life expectancy for the general population of the same age of about 73.
That marked a 15-year increase in life expectancy over the 53.4 life expectancy of those diagnosed between 1950 and 1964. Over that same 30-year period, the general population's life expectancy rose by less than a year.
The results were presented last weekend during the 71st Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego, Calif.
Dr. Orchard said the findings surprised him and his research team. It also might surprise those with the disease who are often told they can expect a shortened lifespan, especially if they do not take pains to control the disease whose onset usually occurs in childhood but also can be diagnosed in young adults.
Nearly 1 million Americans have type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Insulin is the hormone that allows blood glucose to enter cells to be used as energy. Type 1 is treated with injections of insulin usually coupled with dietary restrictions of calories and sugar coupled with regular monitoring of blood-glucose levels.
The Pitt study involved participants in the Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications study -- a long-term perspective of childhood-onset type 1 diabetes that began in 1986. Participants in the life-expectancy study had to be diagnosed with diabetes between 1950 and 1980.
First Published June 28, 2011 12:00 am
