The number of deaths from diabetes in the United States has dropped to some of its lowest rates in years, reversing the surge in mortality rates, according to new preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2019 Coronavirus Pandemic.

According to the third quarter of 2024 death certificate data published this month by the CDC National Health Statistics Center, the death toll per 100,000 is 26.4.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the mortality rate for diabetes peaked in 2021, with deaths that year at 31.1 deaths per 100,000 people. Diabetes is the eighth leading cause of death in 2021. The CDC says the link between Covid-19 and diabetes may be attributed to the increase.

“The data show that mortality rates for all people will increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, and studies show that people with underlying diseases, including diabetes, are more likely to get sick from Covid-19 and have a higher risk of illness and death.

Hollidy added that research shows that the pandemic may also make it more difficult for Americans to manage the disease correctly, from interruptions to physical activity, to disruptions to routine medical diagnosis and treatment.

"While diabetes-related mortality has decreased since 2021, it has not yet returned to large community levels," said Holliday.

In 2021, there were 103,294 deaths from diabetes, up more than 17% in 2019 from 87,647 deaths before the pandemic. So far, temporary data so far in 2024 accounted for 94,294 diabetes deaths last year.

Despite the increased prevalence of disease, most of the deaths of diabetes have been reported in recent years. These trends are ahead of the introduction of new diabetes treatments (such as Ozempic and Mounjaro) High demand.

According to a National Health Interview Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly one in 10 adults have been diagnosed with diabetes in 2023.

Experts warn that analyzing the long-term trend of diabetes death is complex for a variety of reasons, including changes in the definition of the disease over the past few decades and differences in death certificates to record deaths in diabetes.

Similarly, not all death certificates document diabetes as the main “fundamental cause of death”, but diabetes is used as a contributing factor, which is counted separately.

Johns Hopkins Welch Prevention, Epidemiological Research and a News Johns Hopkins Welch Center for Heick said: “Diabetes is the cause of death, and it is not the main cause of death. In addition, most deaths in people with diabetes are cardiovascular and will be counted into the cardiovascular system.

Selvin said it is up to doctors to choose whether to choose diabetes or other underlying health conditions as the cause of death from a heart attack.

"All of this says that the trend toward root causes of death will reflect awareness of diabetes and coding practices; it's hard to know what this does in these data," Selvin said.