Recent trends in life expectancy for people with type 1 diabetes in Sweden

Aims/hypothesis People with type 1 diabetes have reduced life expectancy (LE) compared with the general population. Our aim is to quantify mortality changes from 2002 to 2011 in people with type 1 diabetes in Sweden. Methods This study uses health records from the Swedish National Diabetes Register (NDR) linked with death records. Abridged period life tables for those with type 1 diabetes aged 20 years and older were derived for 2002–06 and 2007–11 using Chiang’s method. Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess trends in overall and cause-specific mortality. Results There were 27,841 persons aged 20 years and older identified in the NDR as living with type 1 diabetes between 2002 and 2011, contributing 194,685 person-years of follow-up and 2,018 deaths. For men with type 1 diabetes, the remaining LE at age 20 increased significantly from 47.7 (95% CI 46.6, 48.9) in 2002–06 to 49.7 years (95% CI 48.9, 50.6) in 2007–11. For women with type 1 diabetes there was no significant change, with an LE at age 20 of 51.7 years (95% CI 50.3, 53.2) in 2002–06 and 51.9 years (95% CI 50.9, 52.9) in 2007–11. Cardiovascular mortality significantly reduced, with a per year HR of 0.947 (95% CI 0.917, 0.978) for men and 0.952 (95% CI 0.916, 0.989) for women. Conclusions/interpretation From 2002–06 to 2007–11 the LE at age 20 of Swedes with type 1 diabetes increased by approximately 2 years for men but minimally for women. These recent gains have been driven by reduced cardiovascular mortality.