Daily AncestorDiabetes
Diabetes on an old death record meant a wasting disease with heavy urination and sugar in the urine, almost always fatal before insulin arrived in 1922.
Webster's 1913 describes diabetes as a disease with excessive urine, which in the sugar form (diabetes mellitus) was generally fatal. Insulin was purified for treatment in Toronto in 1921 and 1922.
Diabetes had its own code in the IPUMS mortality schedule data. A record may also say sugar diabetes or diabetic coma.
As seen in a recordCause of death line, state death certificate, 1910s to 1930s
Lena Busch, 12, F, W, Diabetes mellitus
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Diabetes." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/diabetes. Last checked 2026-10-10.