A large meta-analysis involving more than 200,000 participants has found that women with type 1 diabetes have more than twice the risk of dying from heart disease compared with men who have the condition.
The University of Queensland's School of Public Health research has shown that women with type 1 diabetes have a 40% increased risk of death from any cause and that they have more than twice the risk of dying from heart disease compared with men with this type of diabetes.
Study leader Professor Rachel Huxley said the marked difference between the genders could change how women with type 1 diabetes were treated and managed. "It is speculated that women with type 1 diabetes tend to have greater difficulties with insulin management and glycaemic control than men – factors that could contribute to their increased risk of heart disease," Huxley said. "However, more research is needed to determine why the disease poses a greater risk to women than men."
Huxley said the study findings were based on an analysis of data from 26 studies involving more than 200,000 men and women with type 1 diabetes. "We already knew that people with type 1 diabetes have shorter life expectancies than the general population, but this study was able to determine for the first time that the risk of mortality is greater in women than men with the disease," and, she said, the study also found that women with type 1 diabetes were at greater risk of strokes and were 44% more likely to die from kidney disease than men. "Interestingly, however, type 1 diabetes was not linked to an increased risk of death from cancers in either gender," she said.
"We know that people with type 1 diabetes have shorter life expectancies than the general population, from both acute and long-term diabetic complications. But until now, it was not clear whether this excess risk of mortality is the same in women and men with the disease," explains Huxley.
"A key question is how the risk of excess mortality in women can be reduced further – a particular challenge given that the reasons for excess mortality in type 1 diabetes are still unclear," writes David Simmons, from the University of Western Sydney in New South Wales, Australia, in a linked comment.
[link url="http://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2015/02/type-1-diabetes-more-risky-women-men"]University of Queensland press release[/link]
[link url="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(14)70248-7/abstract"]The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology article summary[/link]
[link url="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(14)70272-4/abstract"]The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology comment summary[/link]