Diabetes Cases Up, Death Rate Down

Despite the growing number of people with diabetes, the death rate is declining, thanks to early detection and better treatment, concludes a report published in The Lancet (August 16, 2003). Danish researchers did an analysis of diabetes in a community of 470,000 people between 1993 and 1999. Although the number of people diagnosed with diabetes increased by ~3% annually over the 6-year study, the death rate fell by 3% each year. Diabetes affects about 135 million people worldwide, and the number of cases has steadily increased in the West, partially due to a rise in obesity.