Every decade of earlier diagnosis of diabetes was associated with about 3–4 years of lower life expectancy, highlighting the need to develop and implement interventions that prevent or delay the onset of diabetes and to intensify the treatment of risk factors among young adults diagnosed with diabetes.

Years of life lost to diabetes is a metric that is receiving increasing attention given its potential use in health education and advocacy. People with diabetes have a loss of life expectancy of between 2·5 years and 12·9 years over the lifespan, as shown in multiple high-income populations.1