Diabetes patients with lower incomes dying at higher rates than wealthy: Report (Canada)

"Despite the drop in fatalities from diabetes over the past decade, patients with lower incomes appear to be dying at a much higher rate than wealthy ones, a new study shows. The risk of dying if you are in the poorest compared to richest group of adults grew by more than 40 per cent over 11 years, according to the study from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto. In 1995, the number of low-income people age 30 to 64 with diabetes who died was 1.4 per cent, or 14 in 1,000 people. In higher income people, it was 1.2, or 12 in 1,000 people. By 2006, while death rates went down overall, mortality rates for lower income adults was .96, or about 10 in 1,000. For higher income people, it was .64, or six in 1,000 people. "Our finding suggests that wealthier people may have benefited more from advances in diabetes care than poorer people," said the study