A twofold excess mortality among black compared with white IDDM patients in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh DERI Mortality Study Group.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the long-term mortality experience of blacks who develop IDDM in childhood.


METHODS
The 11-25-year mortality status of individuals with IDDM who participated in the Diabetes Epidemiology Research International (DERI) Mortality Study was verified as of 1 January 1990 for 1,008 (94%) of the 1,076 individuals in the study. Life-table analysis was performed, and race-specific rates were determined for the final sample.


RESULTS
Among black patients, 14.9% died compared with 6.6% of the white patients after a maximum of 25 years of follow-up. African-Americans experienced an age-adjusted mortality rate that was over twice that of whites for the entire period (9.4 vs. 3.8 per 1,000 person-years, respectively; P < 0.05) and at each 5-year interval of follow-up. Among blacks, the mortality rate for females (15.9/1,000 person-years) was 8.4 times (P < 0.05) that of males (1.9/1,000 person-years). In contrast, this sex difference was not seen among whites. Acute complications of diabetes accounted for 40% of the mortality in the black patients, while only 23% of the white patients died from acute causes.


CONCLUSIONS
The data suggest that some of the excess mortality in black IDDM patients may be preventable.
Tull
E S
ES
Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. est@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Barinas
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D044383:Black People; D002648:Child; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015993:Life Tables; D008297:Male; D010414:Pennsylvania; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D044465:White People