People who develop type 1 diabetes in adulthood have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death compared to those diagnosed earlier in life.
However, their risk remains lower than that seen in individuals with type 2 diabetes, according to new research published in the European Heart Journal.
Although type 1 diabetes has traditionally been considered a childhood disease, recent data suggest that a significant number of cases are diagnosed later in life. In the United States, approximately 62% of type 1 diabetes diagnoses now occur in people over the age of 20, and 37% in those over 30.
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden examined health records of 10,184 adults diagnosed with type 1 diabetes between 2001 and 2020. These individuals were compared to a control group of 509,172 people without diabetes.
The study found that adults with late-onset type 1 diabetes had a notably higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death from all causes바카라including cancer and infections바카라compared to the control group.
바카라The main reasons for this poorer prognosis are smoking, overweight or obesity, and poor glucose control,바카라 said first author Yuxia Wei, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet. 바카라We also observed that people diagnosed in adulthood were less likely to use assistive technologies like insulin pumps.바카라
Despite these risks, the researchers stress that outcomes can be improved. 바카라We show that prognosis can be significantly improved by preventing smoking and obesity, and by better managing blood glucose바카라especially in those diagnosed later in life,바카라 said senior author Sofia Carlsson, associate professor at Karolinska Institutet.
The team plans to continue exploring adult-onset type 1 diabetes, focusing on both the risk factors for developing the condition and outcomes such as microvascular complications. They also intend to investigate the benefits of advanced treatments, including insulin pumps and other diabetes technologies.
The study was funded by the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Diabetes Foundation, among others.
