Type 2 Diabetes-Related Avoidable Mortality Risk Among Individuals with Developmental Disabilities: A Comparison With Individuals With Other Disabilities and Those Without Disabilities : T2DM-Related Avoidable Mortality among Developmentally Disabled Individuals.
Adults with developmental disabilities are three to four times more likely to die from treatable diabetes problems within five years.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Yoon et al. (2025) tracked adults who were newly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. They split the adults into three groups: those with developmental disabilities, those with other disabilities, and those with no disability.
They then counted how many of each group died from diabetes-related causes that good care could have prevented. The team looked at deaths three and five years after the first diagnosis.
What they found
Adults with developmental disabilities died from avoidable diabetes problems at three to four times the rate of non-disabled adults. The gap stayed wide at both the three-year and five-year check-ins.
Even adults with milder disabilities had lower risk than the developmental-disability group, showing the danger is specific to this population.
How this fits with other research
Goulardins et al. (2013) and Schaaf et al. (2015) already showed that parents feel abandoned when their kids move from pediatric to adult doctors. Nan-He et al. now give the deadly numbers behind that feeling: without care coordination, diabetes becomes a killer.
Ruble et al. (2019) found that strong parent-teacher teams help students with autism reach transition goals. The new study says the same teamwork is urgently needed in medical settings to keep adults alive.
Honigfeld et al. (2012) proved that one coaching visit to pediatricians boosts early screening. Nan-He et al. imply we now need a similar low-cost push to train adult diabetes clinics in disability-competent care.
Why it matters
If you work with adults who have developmental disabilities, treat every new diabetes case like a red flag. Schedule the first follow-up sooner, use plain-language handouts, and loop in a care coordinator before the pediatric team signs off. These small moves can shrink the three-fold death risk the study uncovered.
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Add a diabetes-care checklist to each adult ISP: confirm next endocrinology visit is booked, request plain-language after-visit summary, and teach client to self-advocate for blood-sugar checks.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)-related avoidable mortality in individuals with developmental disabilities using national claims data, comparing outcomes with those of other disabilities and non-disabled controls. METHODS: We used de-identified national claims data from the National Health Insurance Service merged with Causes of Death Statistics. The cohort included individuals over 30 years old with developmental disabilities who were newly diagnosed with T2DM between 2012 and 2016. Matched controls (non-disabled, mild, and severe disabilities) were selected based on sex, age, income proxy, and region. T2DM-related avoidable mortality (ICD-10 code "E11") within 1, 3, and 5 years was assessed using multiple logistic regression, adjusted for sociodemographic factors and comorbidities. RESULTS: T2DM-related avoidable mortality rates in the developmental disability group were 0.05%, 0.23%, and 0.55% at 1, 3, and 5 years post-diagnosis, respectively-lower than those in individuals with severe disabilities but higher than those of individuals without disabilities. Multiple logistic regression revealed no significant difference in 1-year mortality between individuals with developmental disabilities and those without disabilities; however, the risk was significantly higher at 3 years (OR = 4.84; 95% CI: 1.80-13.00) and 5 years (OR = 3.82; 95% CI: 2.14-6.81). Compared with individuals with mild disabilities, the 5-year mortality risk was also higher (OR = 2.41; 95% CI: 1.38-4.21). CONCLUSION: Individuals with developmental disabilities exhibit significantly higher T2DM-related avoidable mortality than non-disabled and mild disability groups, highlighting critical gaps in healthcare accessibility. Strengthening targeted interventions and support services is essential to reducing avoidable deaths and improving health outcomes in this population.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1038/nrendo.2016.105