Diabetes-Related Deaths Hit All-Time High in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) —

Diabetes-related deaths in New York City have hit a record high, city Health Department said Monday, notwithstanding a years-long battle by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to reduce the disease through anti-obesity measures.

The city said that though the death rate from diabetes is below the national average, it was the underlying or a contributing cause of 5,695 deaths in 2011. That’s about 160 more such deaths than in 2010 and 1,260 more than in 1990.

That happened while the city’s overall death rate hit an all-time low in 2010, when almost 8,000 fewer people died than in 2000.

The city’s diabetes death rate now amounts to 67 fatalities per 100,000 people, compared to the national rate of just over 73 deaths in 2007.

A New Yorker dies of a diabetes-related cause every 90 minutes. The city is launching a radio ad campaign about the risks of diabetes.

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