Diabetes Health

Jump to another page... Introduction Diabetes prevalence Leisure time physical activity Obesity High-fat diet Fruits and vegetables—Fruit consumption Vegetable consumption Use of food labels High Blood Pressure and Hypertension Routine annual checkups Direct care physician to population ratio (1) Hospitalization rate for diabetes mellitus with complications (1) Age-adjusted mortality for diabetes mellitus (2) Years of potential life lost (2)

Age-adjusted mortality for diabetes mellitus

Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death in Texas and Bexar County. The Bexar County diabetes mortality rate (41 per 100,000) is 40 percent higher than the Texas rate (30 per 100,000). The death rate in Harris County is lower than the state rate at 26 per 100,000. The mortality rate due to diabetes in the county climbed during the 1990s, peaking in 2000 with a rate of 45 deaths per 100,000 people. In Texas and Harris County, the rate was fairly stable over the same time period. The diabetes mortality rate for Hispanics living in Bexar was 60 per 100,000; this is twice the rate for the non-Hispanic population 30 per 100,000.

With the exception of the North Central sector, all sectors within Bexar County have diabetes mortality rates that are higher than the statewide rate. The South, West, and East sectors report death rates that are almost double the rates in the North. The South and West sectors are highest with 57 and 55 deaths per 100,000 population respectively. The North Central sector has the lowest rate in the county with 27 diabetes deaths per 100,000 people living is the area.

Years of potential life lost (YPLL) due to diabetes mellitus

In 2004, there were 121 premature deaths due to diabetes in Bexar County. These deaths resulted in the loss of 1,207 years of life for a rate of 90 years of life lost per 100,000 population. This means that on average, persons who die before age 65 from the complications of diabetes lose 10 years of life. Trend data show that while the YPLL rate in Texas was fairly consistent between 1992 and 2004 in the major metropolitan areas of Harris and Bexar Counties the rate appears to be increasing slowly.

The YPLL rates in two of the sectors in the southern part of Bexar County, the East and West, are double the rates in the rest of the county with rates of 153 and 136 respectively. The Northeast and North Central sectors in the county have rates that are similar to the State rate with 80 and 87 deaths per 100,000 population each. The South and the Northwest sectors have the lowest number of years of potential life lost at 72 and 67 YPLL per 100,000. It is notable that the South sector is 87 percent Hispanic and has one of the lowest diabetes YPLL rates in the County.