Abstract
Although there have been many reports enumerating the various causes of death in Japanese diabetics, we have found few investigations actually dealing with the mortality of Japanese diabetics. To clarify the mortality of Japanese diabetics and the relationship between clinical findings in diabetic patients and their prognosis, we undertook a prospective follow-up study of 1, 629 diabetic patients (898 males, 731 females) who had visited our Diabetes Center during the 12-month period from January through December, 1976. In this paper, we describe the results of this one-year follow-up study, especially regarding the mortality and causes of death in the diabetics.
During the one year follow-up study, only one case dropped out within one year from the start. The death of 31 cases (23 males, 8 females) among the 1, 629 was confirmed at the end of the one-year follow-up study. The mortality of the diabetic patients at our clinic was 1.91%(2.56% in males, 1.09% in females) and was a little higher than that of membets of the general population matched by sex and age, which was 1.63%(2.00% in males, 1.18% in females).
Although the mortality in patients who showed no neuropathy, retinopathy or proteinuria was0%(0/401), the mortality in patients with all of these three diabetic complic tions was 5.91%(12/203).
The main causes of death in the diabetics in this study were myocardial infarction (7 cases), malignant neoplasm (7 cases), diabetic nephropathy (4 cases), cerebrovascular disease (3 cases), and others (10 cases). An increase in myocardial infarction as a cause of death in Japanese diabetics was shown.
