- Approximately 530 million adults worldwide live with diabetes.
- People with diabetes are at increased risk for developing numerous health complications.
- When a person has more than one diabetes-related health complication, they are said to have multiple chronic diseases (MLTCs).
- Researchers at Imperial College London have found that diabetes not only accelerates the onset of MLTCs by 15 to 20 years, but that these MLTCs also lead to a significantly shortened life expectancy in diabetics.
Researchers estimate that about
People with diabetes are at higher risk of developing serious complications, including
When a person with diabetes has more than one of these complications, they are called multiple chronic diseases (MLTCs).
Now researchers from Imperial College London in the UK report that diabetes not only accelerates the onset of MLTCs by 15 to 20 years, but that these MLTCs also lead to a significantly shortened life expectancy in diabetics.
The study was recently published in the journal
For this study, researchers used the National Bridges to Health Segmentation Dataset to analyze medical data from more than 46 million British adults aged 20 and over.
More than 3 million of the study participants had type 1, type 2 or other forms of diabetes.
During the analysis, the researchers found that about a third of study participants with diabetes had at least three MLTCs by age 50. In contrast, those without diabetes did not reach three MLTCs until age 65 to 70.
Scientists also found that the average age of onset for at least two MLTCs in participants with diabetes was 66-67 years. In addition, the younger a person was diagnosed with diabetes, the higher the MLTC levels with age.
“Several chronic diseases have emerged as one of the greatest threats to population health worldwide,” said Edward W. Gregg, PhD, Professor in the School of Population Health at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Science in Ireland, Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Imperial College London, and corresponding author of this study. Medical news today.
“It has been seen primarily as a problem of ageing, and although longer life expectancy is partly responsible, that is not the whole story. We have confirmed that it is a major challenge that occurs even in young and middle adulthood,” he added.
When Gregg and his team examined specific MLTCs, the most common MLTCs across all age groups and genders were:
“We were not surprised that diabetes was associated with MLTCs, but we were surprised by the diversity, the severity – the frequency of 3, 4 or 5+ diseases – and the relatively early onset of the disease,” said Gregg.
“Hypertension (and) coronary heart disease were expected. However, the associations with asthma and osteoarthritis were not. The association with depression was expected, but the fact that they were so frequently associated with diabetes in young adulthood was surprising.”
– Edward W. Gregg, PhD
The researchers also examined how many years of life people with diabetes lost due to MLTCs.
Scientists found that participants with more MLTCs lived with them for fewer years and died earlier than participants without MLTCs.
For example, the researchers found that participants with diabetes and three MLTCs survived for about ten years with them, five years less than the general population. Participants with diabetes and at least five MLTCs, on the other hand, survived for five years with them and died six years earlier than those without MLTCs.
Gregg and his team also found that years of life lost and years of survival lost are greater in young adults with diabetes who experience MLTCs.
For example, by age 40, a person with diabetes and MLTCs loses approximately 4 years of life due to each of these conditions compared to individuals without MLTCs.
“This could indicate that these diseases are particularly severe when they occur in young adulthood,” Gregg said. “But in most cases, chronic diseases tend to have a negative impact on disability and life expectancy over time. So we need to find ways to prevent people from developing these diseases at an early age.”
“Diabetes itself is highly preventable and preventing its onset can help reduce the accumulation of additional disease,” he continued.
In addition, the researcher said, “diabetes is also highly manageable and, if well controlled, can reduce the development of MLTCs. The next steps are to identify and develop, and then test the effects of interventions that can reduce the development or worsening of MLTCs.”
After reviewing this study, Pouya Shafipour, MD, a family medicine and obesity medicine specialist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, said: MNT He was not surprised by the results.
“This is something we expect because diabetes and insulin resistance in the body starts long before the diagnosis of diabetes,” Shafipour explained. “People are often in this state of fatty liver and insulin resistance, and that’s when the damage to the body and all the organs really starts.”
“People with diabetes have an increased risk for
MNT also spoke with Yu-Ming Ni, MD, a board-certified cardiologist and lipidologist at MemorialCare Heart and Vascular Institute of Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, who agreed with this assessment.
“Diabetes affects many different diseases,” Ni explained. “It’s a problem with the way the body metabolizes sugar. It doesn’t just affect your blood sugar levels. It affects your body from head to toe, in terms of your physical performance and the way your organs function.”
“From a cardiac perspective, we often think of heart disease because it includes things like coronary heart disease, risk of heart attack and stroke, and high blood pressure,” he continued.
“All of this is associated with diabetes, not only directly in the way that diabetes affects the function of blood vessels and organs, but also in association with diabetes due to underlying metabolic problems, particularly obesity. So the results of the study are not surprising to me. They just show how much a long-term burden of diabetes can affect health in so many different ways.”
– Yu-Ming Ni, MD
