Summary
The term ‘diabetesrelated deaths’ is used in this analysis to refer to deaths where diabetes was considered to have been either the primary (underlying), or a contributory (associated) cause of death when the underlying cause of death was a commonly recognised complication of diabetes.
- Over the period 2001–2003 there were 20,908 diabetes-related deaths registered for people aged 25 years or over in Australia; this represents 5.4% of all deaths registered over this period. Diabetes was recorded as the underlying cause of death in 9,772 of these cases, representing 2.5% of all deaths registered during 2001–2003 in Australia.
- The average annual diabetes-related death rate for people aged 25 years or over for 2001–2003 was around 68 per 100,000 in males and 41 per 100,000 in females.
- Deaths from diabetes-related causes became more common with age, from less than 1 death per 100,000 in those aged less than 35 years to an average of around 680 deaths per 100,000 in those aged 85 years and over in 2001–2003.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were eight times as likely as other Australians to die of diabetes-related causes in 2001–2003. Further, they were almost 12 times as likely as other Australians to have diabetes recorded as the underlying cause of death.
- People from remote areas were more likely than those from regional areas or major cities to die from diabetes-related causes in 2001–2003.