Audit finds 24 000 excess deaths among people with diabetes in England and Wales

An audit of nearly two million people with diabetes in England and Wales has found that in 2010-11 about 45 000 of them had heart failure, 17 700 (65%) more than the number that would be expected in the general population (27 300).1

However, the risk of heart failure varied widely across England and Wales. After standardisation to minimise differences in local populations, such as age and sex, the risk of heart failure in patients with diabetes in Havering was 27% more than the general population, while in Kensington and Chelsea it was 164% higher.

The national diabetes audit of diabetes related complications and mortality has quantified the risks of cardiovascular complications among people with diabetes for the first time. It included 85% of people with diabetes …