Deaths Of Americans: Diabetes Increases In Number, Ranks 3rd In The Cause Of Death

Diabetes is one of the deadly diseases that the States is now facing. Thus, a new study revealed that the number of Americans who die of diabetes increased in numbers than previously known.

The study that was published in the journal PLOS One found that diabetes causes 12 percent of deaths in the United States. It is based on the data from the federal government. It ranks third on the leading causes of death after heart disease and cancer.

A sociology professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the study lead author, Samuel Preston, said that, "Another way of saying that, if diabetes were eliminated as a disease process, the number of deaths would decline by 12 percent."

He added that, "There has been only one similar, earlier research effort, and it was based on data from the 1980s and early '90s. It showed deaths attributable to diabetes amounted to roughly 4 percent of total deaths," according to Health Day.

The data that were used in the new study came from the U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The data that were used are conducted annually; hence, the researchers have more current figures.

Given the data, the researchers then found that Americans with diabetes have about 90 percent higher death rate compared to those without diabetes. They noted that diabetes as the "underlying cause of death." The disease also has been significantly under-reported in the United States.

Preston said that, "There is only one underlying cause of death on a death certificate, But, diabetes is not listed as frequently as it is involved in the death of individuals."

The co-author of the study who is a demographer at Boston University, Andrew Stokes, shared that, "When we monitor trends in the health of populations and we look at the mortality statistics, some major threats to U.S. mortality and life expectancy stand out, like drug and alcohol poisonings and suicide. Diabetes didn't."

He added that, "What our results point to, is the need for strategies at the population level to combat the epidemics of obesity and diabetes. We need something on a population scale because it's a major issue. It's not an issue that's confined to certain subsets of the population," according to Science Daily.

Thus, both Stokes and Preston said that large-scale solution is necessary.