- NEW DELHI — People
who develop type 1 diabetes in adulthood have an increased risk of
cardiovascular disease and death, according to a new research.
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- However, those diagnosed later in life do not have a better
prognosis than those diagnosed earlier, according to the study conducted by
researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, which pointed to smoking, poor
glucose control and obesity as the main risk factors.
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- Research on adult-onset type 1 diabetes is limited, so the
team wanted to investigate the risk of cardiovascular disease and death in this
group, particularly for those diagnosed after the age of 40.
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- The study, published in European Heart Journal, identified
10,184 people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in adulthood between 2001 and 2020
and compared them to 509,172 matched people in the control group.
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- The study shows that these people with adult-onset type 1
diabetes had a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death from all causes,
including cancer and infections, compared to the control group.
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- Yuxia Wei, postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of
Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, said the main reasons for the
poor prognosis are smoking, overweight/obesity and poor glucose control.
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- “We found that they were less likely to use assistive
devices, such as insulin pumps,” Wei added.
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- Researchers plan to continue investigating adult-onset type
1 diabetes, including risk factors for developing the disease and the prognosis
of other outcomes, such as microvascular complications. Optimal treatment in
adult-onset type 1 diabetes, including the effect of pump use and other
advanced technologies, also needs to be explored.
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- The study was funded by the Swedish Research Council and the
Swedish Diabetes Foundation, among others. The researchers report that there
are no conflicts of interest.
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- The results emphasise the seriousness of type 1 diabetes,
even when it starts later in life, said the researchers.
