Endocrine Abstracts

Background: In Republic of Korea, prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has increased substantially in recent decades, but there are no reliable estimates of the excess mortality currently associated with diabetes.

Methods: We analyzed all subjects were T2DM patients over the age of 30 whose death certificates were issued at three hospitals in the Busan metropolitan area from 2010 to 2014. The causes of death were retrospectively determined based on the information from attending physicians or death certificates.

Results: The study comprised 777 patients of which 60.1% were male. The average age of death was 71 years. The most common cause of death in these patients was infectious disease (28.1%), followed by cardiovascular disease (25.5%), malignant neoplasm (24.5%), and kidney disease (8.1%). This trend was consistent when we sub-analyzed them according to glycemic control status. However, cancer was the most common cause of death in male patients which may be driven by higher rate of smoking and alcohol drinking compared to female patients.

Conclsion: Preventive strategies to promote primary prevention and early detection of infectious disease is urgently needed to reduce this excess mortality in patients with T2DM. In addition, gender difference in cause of death should be taken into consideration.