Demographic Correlates of Short-Term Mortality Among Youth and Young Adults With Youth-Onset Diabetes Diagnosed From 2002 to 2015: The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study

To examine short-term mortality and cause of death among youth and young adults (YYAs) with youth-onset diabetes. We included 19,717 YYAs newly diagnosed with diabetes before 20 years of age from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2015 enrolled in the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study. Of these, 14,721 had type 1; 4,141 type 2; and 551 secondary and 304 other/unknown diabetes type. Cases were linked with the National Death Index through 31 December 2017. We calculated standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and 95% CIs based on age, sex, and race/ethnicity for state and county population areas and examined underlying causes of death. During 170,148 person-years (PY) (median follow-up 8.5 years), 283 individuals died: 133 with type 1 (103.0/100,000 PY), 55 with type 2 (161.5/100,000 PY), 87 with secondary (1,952/100,000 PY), and 8 with other/unknown diabetes type (312.3/100,000 PY). SMRs (95% CI) for the first three groups were 1.5 (1.2-1.8), 2.3 (1.7-3.0), and 28.0 (22.4-34.6), respectively. Diabetes was the underlying cause of death for 42.1%, 9.1%, and 4.6% of deaths, respectively. The SMR was greater for type 2 than for type 1 diabetes ( < 0.001). SMRs were significantly higher for individuals with type 1 diabetes who were