A new analysis of data from three large national databases finds that in the 29 years between 1971 and 2000, the death rate of men with diabetes has dropped significantly, in line with the overall decline of the death rate for all Americans. But the death rate for women with diabetes did not decline at all. In general, people with diabetes have a higher risk of dying earlier than people without the disease. In this study the death rate of men with diabetes remained higher than that of men without diabetes but over the decades it decreased in parallel with the decrease in men without diabetes. These same favorable trends were not present in women with diabetes.
