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Diabetes linked to early death in obese

LEXINGTON, Ky., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- A study by the University of Kentucky and Atlanta's Emory University has suggested that obesity is only a major cause of early death in people with diabetes.

The study, published Tuesday in medical journal Critical Care, said diabetes sufferers were found to be three times more likely than people without the disease to die prematurely from critical illness, WebMD reported. Obese people without the disease were found to have the same risk of organ failure as normal-weight people without diabetes.

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"Our results do not support the contention that obesity itself is a risk factor for increased mortality in patients with acute organ failure," the researchers wrote. "It brings up a new perspective on this still controversial subject of obesity, critical illness, and mortality."

However, obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes. The American Diabetes Association says that 90 percent of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese.

The study was based on data collected from 15,408 people between the ages of 44 and 66 in the mid to late 1980s.

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