Diabetologia
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The increasing trends of mortality from diabetes mellitus in Taiwan are becoming a public health concern. The age-adjusted death rate for diabetes was 3.7 per 100,000 population in 1960, which increased to 23.2 per 100,000 in 1988, a 6.3-fold increase over the past 30 years. The mortality data for diabetes in Taiwan from 1960 to 1988 for both sexes are presented and analysed using an age-period-cohort model in order to gain a better understanding of the possible determinants of the time trends of this disease. ⋯ Significant cohort effects were found which peaked in the birth-cohort 1910-1917. This declined thereafter for females but has levelled since then for males. Further study is necessary to assess the aetiological implications of diet and urbanization on time trends of diabetes.