Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is considered a public health problem because of its great prevalence and the fact that the majority of the patients are not being treated or not following adequately the treatment for the disease. Therefore, there is an increased risk for morbidity and mortality. The underlying cause of death registered on the death certificates may stress the importance of this disease to society. Design, material and methods: Data were obtained from a database from the Department of Epidemiology of the Municipal Bureau of Health. Diabetic death rates were compared with the general population deaths in Rio de Janeiro during the years of 1994, 1995 and 1996, in relation to sex and age group criteria. Results: Among women of less than 50 years of age the mortality is equal, but after that the diabetics showed higher mortality rates. Among men, non-DM have higher mortality rates until 60 years of age, after that, diabetics showed higher death frequency. Conclusion: This study suggests that among DM patients, women showed higher percentile in the proportional mortality than men. However, among the non-DM the higher proportional mortality was found among men.
Diabetes; Mortality; Sex; Age
