The features of causes of death in Japanese diabetics during the period 1971-1980.

The principal causes of death among 9,737 diabetics who died in 280 hospitals all over Japan during the period 1971-1980 have been analyzed retrospectively in this study. The main cause of death in Japanese diabetics was vascular complications. The mortality from vascular complications was 41.5%, 37.9% for males and 46.8% for females, increasing with the duration of diabetes and with age. The most interesting findings were of cardiovascular disease which was the cause of death in 12.3% of the subjects in our study as compared to 54.6% of the Joslin Clinic patients (1971). However, our incidence rate was almost twice that reported in Japan in 1967 by Goto (Japan). In contrast, cerebrovascular disease and nephropathy are much more common in Japanese than in American diabetics. Recently cancer has become more common in Japanese diabetics and 25.3% of the deaths have been assigned to it. In contrast, diabetic coma due to hyperglycemia accounted for only 4.1% of deaths. The average life span of Japanese diabetics is still over 10 years shorter than that of non-diabetics.