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Background
Keywords
Findings
Author

Text begins

Background

Using multiple-cause-of-death data, this study examines diabetes mellitus as a cause of mortality. During the 2004-to-2008 period, diabetes mellitus was listed as either the underlying cause or a contributing cause of 119,617 deaths. It was more than twice as likely to be a contributing than the underlying cause of death. When it was identified as the underlying cause of death, diabetes mellitus was rarely the only cause. The diabetes mellitus mortality rate was relatively high among males, older individuals, and people living in lower-income neighbourhoods. Provincial/Territorial differences in rates of death from diabetes mellitus were considerable. When diabetes mellitus was the underlying cause of death, cardiovascular diseases were listed as a contributing cause most often, and when diabetes mellitus was a contributing cause, cardiovascular diseases were most likely to be the underlying cause.

Keywords

Cardiovascular diseases, comorbidity, data linkage, death certificates, socio-economic factors, vital statistics

Findings

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic diseases in Canada. It occurs when the body is either unable to sufficiently produce or properly use insulin. Insulin, a hormone secreted by beta cells in the pancreas, enables the cells of the body to absorb sugar from the bloodstream and use it as an energy source. People with type 1 diabetes mellitus produce little or no insulin; in type 2 diabetes mellitus, the pancreas continues to make insulin, but the body develops resistance to its effects or an insulin deficiency. [Full Text]

Author

Jungwee Park (1-613-951-4598; jungwee.park@statcan.gc.ca) and Paul A. Peters are with the Health Analysis Division at Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A0T6.