Diabetes: mortality data

Death certification is likely to underestimate the burden of mortality from diabetes as diabetes is often not recorded as contributing to death. Chart 1 shows the death rate in Scotland between 2011 and 2021 where diabetes was the underlying cause of death or was mentioned as one of the conditions contributing to death. Between 2011 and 2021, there was an increase in deaths where diabetes was a contributory factor. Although it has been stable over the last few years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of deaths from 2019 to 2020.  From 2020 to 2021 the rate decreased slightly.  The rate of deaths where diabetes was recorded as a contributory factor has decreased slightly from 147.2 per 100,00 in 2020 to 146.8 in 2021.  A significant proportion of these deaths also had COVID-19 as the underlying cause or an additional contributory factor to death. This is due to an increased mortality risk from COVID-19 for those with diabetes.
Deaths where diabetes was recorded as the underlying cause changed little over the same period, although there has been a slight decrease in the last year. The figures in the chart are based on deaths data provided by National Records of Scotland and based on year of registration of death.