Medical Advances Against Diabetes Haven't Benefited Women, Study Says

In a finding that partly challenges the conventional wisdom that women live longer than men, a new study suggests that the medical advances of the last few decades against diabetes haven't benefited women.

According to a recent article, researchers found that the death rates of diabetic men dropped in recent decades, while those of diabetic women increased. It's not clear why the discrepancy exists. "I do not have a clue," said Dr. Larry Deeb, President of Medicine and Science for the American Diabetes Association (ADA), when asked why women are falling behind. "But I do know that it argues that something we're doing isn't right. If you're a woman, and you have diabetes, it may be we're not aggressive enough about taking care of you."

In the new study, researchers led by Edward Gregg, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, examined health surveys spanning 1971 to 2000 to determine the death rates of Americans with diabetes. The researchers looked at about 27,000 people.They found that among diabetic men, the death rate from all causes dipped from 42.6 to 24.4 deaths per 1,000 persons between the two time periods. But among diabetic women, the death rate actually rose from 18.4 to 25.9 per 1,000, even as the life span of non-diabetic women grew longer.

An estimated 9.7 million American women have diabetes, and almost one-third of them don't know it. Women with diabetes are more likely to have a heart attack, and at a younger age, than women without diabetes, according to the ADA.

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