Diabetics from wealthy homes 'live as long as poorest Scots'

Published on Sunday 22 May 2011 15:35

HAVING diabetes has the same effect on someone's risk of death as living in one of Scotland's most deprived communities, research shows.

A study in Edinburgh found that people with Type 2 diabetes from an affluent background had the same risk of dying as someone without the condition from a deprived area.

But the highest risks of suffering an early death remained in patients from the worst off backgrounds who had diabetes - almost twice the risk of those from more affluent areas.

Previous research has shown that Scotland's most deprived communities have among the worst health records in the UK, and Scottish regions account for eight of the bottom ten areas with the lowest life expectancy for men.

But the latest work, published in the journal Diabetes Care, also shows that living in a more affluent area cannot protect you from the worst effects of Type 2 diabetes - the form of the disease that develops during adulthood and is linked to being overweight.

The study, looking at the health records of 200,000 people in Scotland, found that among the most affluent women with diabetes, the mortality rate was about 12 deaths per 1,000 of the population. For women from the most deprived areas without diabetes, the mortality rate was almost the same at 12.6 per 1,000.

Affluent women without diabetes had a low death rate of six per 1,000.

A similar pattern was seen in men, though not quite as pronounced. Affluent men with diabetes had a mortality rate of 16.3 per 1,000, while deprived men without the condition had a rate of 21.6. But by far the highest mortality rates were seen in men and women from deprived areas who did have diabetes - at 20.8 per 1,000 for women and 26.2 for men.

Researcher Dr Sarah Wild, from Edinburgh University, told The Scotsman: "There is declining heart disease around the world, partly because of better treatments, and we hoped that would have diminished the effect of diabetes, but it does not seem to have done.

"There's no point people thinking, 'We can treat that, it doesn't matter if I get diabetes.' The effect, unfortunately, is still as bad as it ever was."

Dr Wild said while they had found the risks of dying among people with diabetes were worst for those in deprived areas, affluent patients could still see their risk of death increase to that of someone without the disease but who is living in the most deprived of circumstances.

"We know that being deprived is bad for you. We know that diabetes is bad for you, but what we show is that having diabetes even if you are from affluent communities has a similar effect on your risk of dying as living in a deprived area," she said.

"I think people living in the leafy suburbs probably think they are protected even if they do get diabetes."

Dr Wild said the best way to avoid the effects of diabetes was not to develop it in the first place, by losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle.

Alan McGinley, of Diabetes UK Scotland, said: "This research once again reinforces the message that diabetes is serious, it can kill and that this is true among even the most affluent in our society."