Study: Type 1 Diabetes Heart Ills Static

University of Pittsburgh scientists say rates of heart and eye disease in type 1 diabetics have not improved during the past 25 to 30 years.

Researchers said the study — one of the most comprehensive, long-term studies associated with type 1 diabetes — showed that while cases of premature death and a few other complications have declined, rates of other serious diabetes-related disorders such as heart and eye disease have not improved.

The investigators analyzed long-term complications such as mortality, renal failure and coronary artery disease in 906 type 1 diabetics participating in the Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications Study between 1950 and 1980.

The scientists’ analysis of mortality data showed those diagnosed in later years lived longer. Individuals diagnosed during the 1950s had a five times higher rate of early death at 25 years post-diagnosis than those diagnosed during the 1970s.

Some morbidity rates also were reduced; kidney-failure rates, for example, declined significantly for those diagnosed more recently. On the other hand, there were no differences across cohorts for rates of cardiovascular disease events and cardiac intervention procedures.

The study appears in the current issue of the journal Diabetes.