“I never expected to live this long.”

That’s a statement that’s becoming increasingly common among people with type 1 diabetes, many of whom were told as children or teens that their lives would likely be shortened by diabetes-related complications.

But a growing number of people with diabetes are defying the odds, living with the condition for 50 years or more and often remaining quite healthy. A new Canadian study is currently underway to find out the secrets to their longevity.

“We are now seeing that people with type 1 diabetes can live for a lot longer than we had initially thought,” Dr Bruce Perkins, an endocrinologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto who is heading the national study said.

The Canadian Study for Longevity in type 1 diabetes, which began about a year ago has so far enrolled about 300 patients. The Toronto researchers are also collaborating with the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

Type 1 diabetes was once considered a death sentence until Dr Frederick Banting and Charles Best of the University of Toronto isolated insulin in 1921, leading to its commercial production to treat patients around the world.

While this was a tremendous breakthrough, in the next few decades many people with diabetes still died of end-stage kidney disease by the time they hit age 40, Dr Perkins said.

But with the development of more refined insulin and increased awareness of rigorous blood-sugar management over the years, life expectancy has continued to rise.

Today, some studies estimate that people with type 1 diabetes may have up to 15 years taken from their lifespan.

“I don’t personally believe that to be true, now that I’m managing people and I see how healthy and well they’re doing,” Dr Perkins said.

“Now I have the confidence to tell them they can lead out their lives the way they would have if they hadn’t developed diabetes, simply because we have so much better ways of giving insulin, better types of insulin, better ways to screen for complications.

“It does require work. It requires a relentless vigilance on their part in monitoring blood sugars, thinking through insulin doses, self-managing their diabetes. But it definitely is possible and we’ve got beautiful examples of people living their lives to the fullest.”