MORTALITY AND CAUSES OF DEATH IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES-MELLITUS IN JAPAN

Although the mortality rate of diabetes mellitus in Japan is much lowe r than the rates in Western countries, an increasing trend has been ev ident over the last 40 years as a whole. However, the trend shows vari ations with age; there is an apparent decreasing trend in subjects of 0-35 years of age at death, while there is a remarkable increasing tre nd in subjects of 75 years of age and over. It appears that the increa se in diabetes mortality is largely due to an elevation in the mortali ty rate in aged subjects and an increase in the size of the aged popul ation in this country. A population-based study of causes of death, ca rried out in Osaka Prefecture for the period 1960-1989, indicates a re markable increase in the age at death and significant changes in the c auses of death of diabetic patients. Diseases of the circulatory syste m were found to be the major causes of death other than diabetes, and, among them, a rapid increase in the frequency of disease of the heart was observed. As a cause of death, tuberculosis decreased sharply, wh ile malignant neoplasms, ischemic heart disease, and pneumonia and bro nchitis increased during the same period. Among malignant neoplasms, a n increase in neoplasm of the liver was marked.