Similar decline in mortality rate of older persons with and without type 2 diabetes between 1993 and 2004 the Icelandic population-based Reykjavik and AGES-Reykjavik cohort studies.

• Published in: BMC Public Health
• Main Authors: Olafsdottir, Elin, Aspelund, Thor, Sigurdsson, Gunnar, Benediktsson, Rafn, Thorsson, Bolli, Harris, Tamara B, Launer, Lenore J, Eiriksdottir, Gudny, Gudnason, Vilmundur
• Other Authors: Iceland Heart Assoc Res Inst, Kopavogur, Iceland, Univ Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland, Univ Iceland, Fac Med, Reykjavik, Iceland, Landspitali Univ Hosp, Reykjavik, Iceland, Intramural Res Program, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BioMed Central 2013
• Subjects: Kransæðasjúkdómar; Sykursýki; Dánarmein; Aldraðir; Aged; 80 and over; Cardiovascular Diseases; Cause of Death; Cohort Studies; Diabetes Mellitus; Type 2; Female; Humans; Iceland; Male
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2336/324365; https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-36

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked Files. This article is open access. A decline in mortality rates due to cardiovascular diseases and all-cause mortality has led to increased life expectancy in the Western world in recent decades. At the same time, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes, a disease associated with a twofold excess risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality, has been increasing. The objective of this study was to estimate the secular trend of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality rates in two population-based cohorts of older persons, with and without type 2 diabetes, examined 11 years apart. 1506 participants (42% men) from the population-based Reykjavik Study, examined during 1991-1996 (median 1993), mean age 75.0 years, and 4814 participants (43% men) from the AGES-Reykjavik Study, examined during 2002-2006 (median 2004), mean age 77.2 years, age range in both cohorts 70-87 years. The main outcome measures were age-specific mortality rates due to cardiovascular disease and all causes, over two consecutive 5.7- and 5.3-year follow-up periods. A 32% decline in cardiovascular mortality rate and a 19% decline in all-cause mortality rate were observed between 1993 and 2004. The decline was greater in those with type 2 diabetes, as illustrated by the decline in the adjusted hazard ratio of cardiovascular mortality in individuals with diabetes compared to those without diabetes, from 1.88 (95% CI 1.24-2.85) in 1993 to 1.46 (95% CI 1.11-1.91) in 2004. We also observed a concurrent decrease in major cardiovascular risk factors in both those with and without diabetes. A higher proportion of persons with diabetes received glucose-lowering, hypertensive and lipid-lowering medication in 2004. A decline in cardiovascular and all-cause mortality rates was observed in older persons during the period 1993-2004, in both those with and without type 2 diabetes. This decline ...