A study on mortality causes in people with diabetes

Abstract

Background: According to the International Diabetes Federation, an average of 3.3 million people die from diabetes annually worldwide which is 5.1% of all deaths in the world. In our country, the cause of mortaliy in people with diabetes has not been studied yet. Aim: To investigate the mortality pattern in people with diabetes admitted to a tertiary care hospital in Mongolia. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted based on data from the First Central Hospital of Mongolia between 2015 and 2021. The data were obtained from all departments at the hospital. All records mentioned “diabetes mellitus” were reviewed. Results: During the review period, 179 deaths were recorded. Among them 54.7% had diabetes mellitus and the mean age at death for people with diabetes was 60.7±13.7 years and 51.4% (n=92) were males. The leading five causes of mortality were chronic renal failure (19.3%), gastrointestinal tract bleeding (15.3%), cutaneous and other abscesses (15.1%), sepsis (13.3%) and cardiac failure (13.3%). There was no statistically significant difference in the causes of mortality by gender, but in terms of age, women (57.3±12.1) died at a significantly younger age than men (61.7±10.1) (p=0.001). Conclusion: 1. The leading causes of death in hospitalized patients with diabetes include kidney failure, gastrointestinal bleeding, skin abscesses, hypothyroidism, seizures, and cardiovascular failure. 2. In hospital deaths from diabetes occurred at a relatively young age in women but there were no gender differences in cause-of-death categories