Mortality and Causes of Death in a National Sample of Diabetic Patients in Taiwan
Response to Lu et al.
- Chin-Hsiao Tseng, MD, PHD1234
- 1Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 2National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
- 3School of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
- 4Division of Environmental Health and Occupational Medicine of the National Health Research Institutes, Taipei, Taiwan
- Address correspondence to Chin-Hsiao Tseng, MD, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, no. 7 Chung-Shan South Rd., Taipei, Taiwan. E-mail: ccktsh{at}ms6.hinet.net
The comparison of the coding behaviors of death certificates for diabetic patients among physicians of different countries reported by Lu et al. (1) is interesting and provides some explanations for a lower proportion of mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD) coded as the underlying cause of death in Taiwanese diabetic patients (2). However, the data presented should be interpreted with caution in order to avoid overinterpretation.
Based on a lower coexistence of CVD and diabetes in death certificates with mention of diabetes, Lu et al. concluded that their results partially supported the first hypothesis of a less likely experience of …
