Coronary heart disease mortality is actually low in diabetic Japanese by direct comparison with the Joslin cohort.

Abstract

To identify the mortality rate from coronary heart disease (CHD) in diabetic Japanese by directly comparing the Tokyo University Hospital cohort and the Joslin cohort using identical protocols. Five hundred thirty-eight diabetic patients who were treated at Tokyo University Hospital with a 35- to 62-year age range at entry and with a diabetes duration of < 5 years were followed retrospectively for more than 24 years. The percentage of patients who survived at the end of the 24-year period was higher in the Tokyo University cohort (42%) than in the Joslin cohort (12%). The percentage of patients who died from CHD was remarkably lower in the Tokyo University cohort (11%) than in the Joslin cohort (39%). The CHD mortality rate was lower in the Tokyo University cohort than in the Joslin cohort, regardless of the duration of diabetes. Our study confirmed the previous finding that the CHD mortality is lower in diabetic Japanese than in diabetic Caucasians.