Mortality of patients with childhood onset (0-17 years) Type I diabetes in Israel: a population-based study.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to examine the mortality rate of subjects with childhood-onset Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus in Israel.


METHODS
The whole-country cohort of 1,861 children and adolescents (0-17 years) with Type I diabetes, diagnosed between January 1965 and December 1993 in Israel, was analysed for mortality up to October 1996.


RESULTS
A total of 37 deaths were identified with an ascertainment rate of 100%. There was a significant (p < 0.001) excess mortality in the patients with Type I diabetes, the standard mortality ratio being three times higher than that of the general population. The causes of mortality were ketoacidosis (n = 8), infections (n = 8), chronic diabetes complications (n = 9), external causes (n = 6) and other (n = 6). Among the subjects who died, the prevalence of nephropathy, neuropathy and anaemia was higher in female than in male subjects. A total of 17 of the patients with diabetes who died had a central nervous disease (psychosis, mental retardation, epilepsy). There was a trend to lower mortality among the Arab cohort which did not reach statistical significance.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data provide additional evidence that childhood-onset Type I diabetes carries an increased mortality risk when compared with the mortality risk of the non-diabetic population.
Laron-Kenet
T
T
Endocrinology and Diabetes Research Unit, Schneider Children's Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Shamis
I
I
Weitzman
S
S
Rosen
S
S
Laron
Z V
ZV
D000293:Adolescent; D017668:Age of Onset; D000740:Anemia / Q000401:mortality; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000401:mortality*; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D012727:Sex Characteristics