The Global Burden of Type 2 Diabetes Attributable to Tobacco: A Secondary Analysis From the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

OBJECTIVES: Growing epidemiological studies have reported the relationship between tobacco and health loss among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). This study aimed to explore the secular trend and spatial distribution of the T2D burden attributable to tobacco on a global scale to better understand regional disparities and judge the gap between current conditions and expectations. METHODS: As a secondary analysis, we extracted data of tobacco-attributable T2D burden from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD). Joinpoint regression was adopted to determine the secular trend of age-standardized rates (ASR), with average annual percentage change (AAPC). Gaussian process regression (GPR) was used to explore the average expected relationship between ASRs and the socio-demographic index (SDI). Spatial autocorrelation was used to indicate if there is clustering of age-standardized DALY rate (ASDR) with Moran’s I value. Multi-scale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) was to investigate the spatial distribution and scales of influencing factors in ASDR attributable to tobacco, with the regression coefficients for each influencing factor among 204 countries. RESULTS: Tobacco posed a challenge to global T2D health, particularly for the elderly and men from lower SDI regions. For women, mortality attributable to secondhand smoke was higher than smoking. A downward trend in age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) of T2D attributable to tobacco was observed (AAPCs= -0.24; 95% CI -0.30 to -0.18), while the ASDR increased globally since 1990 (AAPCs= 0.19; 0.11 to 0.27). Oceania, Southern Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia had the highest ASMRs and ASDRs, exceeding expectations based on the SDI. Also, “high-high” clusters were mainly observed in South Africa and Southeast Asian countries, which means a high-ASDR country is surrounded by high-ASDR neighborhoods in the above areas. According to MGWR model, smoking prevalence was the most sensitive influencing factor, with regression coefficients from 0.15 to 1.80. CONCLUSION: The tobacco-attributable burden of T2D should be considered as an important health issue, especially in low-middle and middle-SDI regions. Meanwhile, secondhand smoke posed a greater risk to women. Regional disparities existed, with hot spots mainly concentrated in South Africa and Southeast Asian countries.