Abstract
A survey was made of the causes of death in 385 patients with primary diabetes who diedduring the three-year period from 1977 to 1979 in Ehime Prefecture, based on questionnaires sent to the members of the Ehime Medical Association.
The mean age of death was 67.4 years and the average duration of illness was 8.7 years for the 385 cases reported (193 males and 192 females).
The most frequent cause of death was cerebrovascular disease (21.0%), followed, in order, by heart disease (20.3%), infection (15.6%), malignant neoplasm (13.5%), renal disease (12.2%), diseases of the digestive organs (6.2%), diabetic coma (5.5%), hypoglycemic coma (0.8%) and others (4.9%).
When analyzed according to the place where death occurred, the incidence of deaths showed high values for malignant neoplasms, heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases and renal diseases at hospitals. At physician's offices and patient's homes, however, cerebrovascular diseases and heart diseases were the most frequent causes, whereas deaths from renal diseases and malignant neoplasms showed an extremely low incidence.
