Trends in premature mortality from diabetes mellitus in Costa Rica in the period 2000–2020.

To analyze the temporal trends of premature mortality from diabetes in Costa Rica in the period 2000–2020, at a national level and by province, and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on diabetes mortality during the year 2020 We studied the temporal trends of mortality from diabetes in Costa Rica in the period between 2000 and 2020. Age-standardized mortality rates and corresponding 95% confidence intervals were calculated for each year, sex and province. We analyzed the data of 17,968 deceased persons. The mean age was 72.5 years (range 1 to 109 years), and 51.5% of the population (n = 9253) was younger than 75 years. In both men and women, we observed a significant decrease in mortality from 2000 to 2014, followed by the opposite trend from 2014 to 2020, with average yearly increases of 13.9% in men and 11.6% in women. Premature mortality from diabetes has been growing from 2014. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the mortality pattern, increasing premature diabetes deaths in Costa Rica in 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]