国际英语资讯:Diabetes causes loss of 9 years of life in Chinese patients: study_时事

国际英语资讯:Diabetes causes loss of 9 years of life in Chinese patients: study

And the risk of dying from inadequately treated acute complications of diabetes such as diabetic coma was four times as great in rural as in urban areas. Even in urban areas, it was much higher than in Western populations.

The researchers also estimated that the 25-year probability of death would be 69 percent among those diagnosed with diabetes at age 50 compared with 38 percent among otherwise similar individuals without diabetes, corresponding to a loss of about nine years of life -- 10 years in rural areas and eight years in urban areas.

"As the prevalence of diabetes in young adults increases and the adult population grows, the annual number of deaths related to diabetes is likely to continue to increase, unless there is substantial improvement in prevention and management," the researchers wrote.

Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), described in an accompanying editorial this study as "the first reliable evidence of the specific diseases and complications that account for mortality among Chinese individuals with diabetes."

The pattern of excess mortality revealed in this study points to "significant weaknesses in the clinical management of diabetes, especially in rural areas, and in the effectiveness of population-wide interventions aimed at prevention," the WHO chief said.

But Chan also noted that China has undertaken major reforms of its health system in the last 10 years, improving primary health care and training large numbers of family physicians.