HHS HealthBeat (August 24, 2007)

Men, women, dying and diabetes

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Men with diabetes live longer now than in earlier decades, but women have not fared as well. That difference came out of an analysis of three large databases.

Researcher Edward Gregg of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the findings in Annals of Internal Medicine.

"It is important to understand that death rates did not actually increase in women. However, we found that death rates did not actually go down in women, either." (7 seconds)

The study wasn’t set up to explain the difference in death rates. Gregg says other studies suggest it might be due to differences in care or in the way the disease works.

But the advice is the same for both sexes: Keep tight control of your blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight. Get regular exercise and health care. And don’t smoke.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: August, 24 2007