Sex differences in the mortality associated with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in four countries. The Diabetes Epidemiology Research International (DERI) Study.

As part of the Diabetes Epidemiology Research International Mortality Study, sex differences in overall and cause-specific mortality were evaluated in the follow-up of over 8,000 youth-onset diabetic patients diagnosed between 1965-1979. These cases came from population-based cohorts in Japan, Israel, Finland, and the United States (Allegheny County, PA). Males had a significantly greater premature death rate compared with females in Finland. In the other countries, the sex-specific rates did not differ significantly. Cause-specific mortality analysis revealed that Finland and the United States had an excess of violent deaths for males. For all countries, there was little difference between mortality rates for males and females for diabetes-related mortality (e.g., acute diabetes-related mortality and renal disease). The results indicate that the male/female differences in mortality for insulin-dependent diabetic cohorts were not the same as for the general population. Moreover, the male/female mortality risk varied as the result of where the childhood diabetic patients lived.