Trends in Premature Mortality from Diabetes Mellitus in Costa Rica in the Period 2000-2020

Objectives: 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.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusions: 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.