Changes in all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in three different Finnish population cohorts with and without diabetes

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BackgroundWe aimed to assess changes in cardiovascular (CVD) and all-cause mortality among diabetic and non-diabetic individuals between three large study cohorts with baseline assessments of 10years apart and followed up for 10years. MethodsSix population surveys were carried out in 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992 and 1997 in Finland. For the analyses we combined the 1972 and 1977 cohorts (cohort 1), the 1982 and 1987 cohorts (cohort 2) and similarly also the 1992 and 1997 cohorts (cohort 3). ResultsAge-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of all-cause mortality and CVD in men without diabetes showed that both had a statistically significant decreased risk of all-cause mortality compared to the first cohort. No statistically significant changes in all-cause mortality were observed in men and women with diabetes between the latter two cohorts compared with the first after controlling for several covariates. In both men and women without diabetes, cohort 2 (men, HR=0.65; 95% CI 0.51–0.82; women, HR=0.54; 95% CI 0.32–0.89) and cohort 3 (men, HR=0.32; 95% CI 0.22–0.47; women, HR=0.31; 95% CI 0.14–0.68) showed a statistically significant decreased risk of CVD mortality compared to cohort 1. Age-adjusted HRs in regard to CVD mortality in men (HR=0.22; 95% CI 0.07–0.69) and women (HR=0.22; 95% CI 0.05–0.99) with diabetes of cohort 3 were statistically significantly lower than in cohort 1. ConclusionsThere seems to be a decrease in CVD mortality in people with diabetes indicating that treatment of diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors in diabetes patients may have improved during the last decade.