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Many people with diabetes mellitus experience minimal or no complications. Our objective was to determine the proportion of Alaska Native people who experienced four major complications or mortality and to identify factors that may be associated with these outcomes. We used records in a diabetes registry and clinical and demographic variables in our analyses. We used logistic regression and Cox Proportional Hazards models to evaluate associations of these parameters with death and complications that occurred prior to 2013. The study included 591 Alaska Native people with non-type 1 diabetes mellitus, diagnosed between 1986 and 1992. Over 60% of people in this study remained free of four major diabetes-related complications for the remainder of life or throughout the approximately 20-year study period. Lower BMI, higher age at diagnosis of diabetes, and use of at least one diabetes medication were associated with death and a composite of four complications. A majority of Alaska Native people with DM had none of four major complications over a 20-year period. Lower BMI and use of diabetes medications were associated with higher hazard for some deleterious outcomes. This suggests that goals in care of elders should be carefully individualised. In addition, we discuss several programme factors that we believe contributed to favourable outcomes.

Objectives: To examine trends in diabetes prevalence, incidence, complications and mortality between 1985 and 2006 among Alaska Native people., Study Design: We used data from the population-based Alaska Native Diabetes Registry, which includes all people who receive care in the Alaska Tribal Health System., Methods: We compared the periods of 1986-1990 and 2002-2006 for diabetes-related amputations, renal replacement and mortality using Poisson regression. Complications and mortality data were examined for trends using Poisson regression. Survival analyses for those diagnosed since 31 December 1985 were performed using the Cox proportional hazard model., Results: Age-adjusted diabetes prevalence increased from 17.3 in 1985 to 47.6/1,000 in 2006. The number of Alaska Native people living in Alaska with diabetes increased from 610 in 1985 to 3,386 in 2006. Diabetes incidence rates have also increased. Comparing age-adjusted rates for the 5-year periods 1986-1990 and 2002-2006, amputations decreased from 5.3 to 2.6/1,000, renal replacement decreased from 3.3 to 1.2/1,000 and mortality decreased from 41.7 to 33.2/1,000. Yearly analyses showed a downward trend for amputations, renal replacement and mortality rates. Survival analyses showed a significantly higher hazard ratio for any amputations, major amputations and renal replacement for the earlier time period compared to the most recent time period., Conclusions: An increase in risk factors, awareness, funding and case-finding may be contributing to the increase in prevalence and incidence of diagnosed diabetes. While diabetes prevalence and incidence are increasing among Alaska Native people, our results suggest that even in remote, rural areas, complications and mortality can be reduced.