Study Shows Life Expectancy Longer Now For Type 1 Diabetics: Insulin was discovered in the 1920s. Prior to that time, when a person was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (formerly known as juvenile diabetes mellitus) that person might not live for very long, sometimes as long as only one year.
With the advent of insulin in the treatment of Type 1 diabetes (when the pancreas stops making insulin and only replacement of this insulin by artificial insulin can be done), the life expectancy of someone diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes was extended.
Because of better understanding of Type 1 diabetes, and better treatment of type 1 diabetes (better control of blood sugar levels), there has been an increase in the life expectancy for someone now diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
A 30-year, long-term prospective study, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Healthy study that was presented at the 71st Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego, California, in June of 2011, with lead author of the study Trevor J. Orchard, M.D., and Professor of Epidemiology, Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh: “The results, found in Abstract Number 0078-OR, are based on participants in the Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications (EDC) study, a long-term prospective study of childhood onset Type 1 diabetes.”
The study began in 1986. The average age of the participants was 28 when they began the study and age 44 at the study’s completion. These individuals were diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes between 1950 and 1980. There has been a lack of information, studies, that addressed the life expectancy of those with Type 1 diabetes.
These study results indicated that the 30-year mortality of the participants in the study with Type 1 diabetes from 1965 to 1980 was 11.6 percent, which was a decline from the 35.6 percent 30-year mortality of those diagnosed between 1950 and 1964.
The study indicated that the life expectancy for participants diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes between 1965 and 1980 was 68.8 years, which was a 15-year improvement when compared to those diagnosed between 1950 and 1964.
Other authors of this study were Rachel G. Miller, M.S., Aaron M. Secrest, Ph.D., Ravi K. Sharma, Ph.D., and Thomas J. Songer, Ph.D., all of the University of Pittsburgh.
This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
