Incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes worldwide

OBJECTIVE - To investigate and monitor the patterns in incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes worldwide. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS- The incidence of type 1 diabetes (per 100,000 per year) from 1990 to 1994 was determined in children less than or equal to 14 years of age from 100 centers in 50 countries. A total of 19,164 cases were diagnosed in study populations totaling 75.1 million children. The annual incidence rates were calculated per 100,000 population. RESULTS - The overall age-adjusted incidence of type 1 diabetes varied from 0.1/100,000 per year in China and Venezuela to 36.8/100,000 per year in Sardinia and 36.5/100,000 per year in Finland. This represents a >350-fold variation in the incidence among the 100 populations worldwide. The global pattern of variation in incidence was evaluated by arbitrarily grouping the populations with a very low (<1/100,000 per year), a low (1-4.99/100,000 per year), an intermediate (5-9.99/100,000 per year), a high (10-19.99/100,000 per year), and a very high ( greater than or equal to 20/100,000 per year) incidence. Of the European populations, 18 of 39 had an intermediate incidence, and the remainder had a high or very high incidence. A very high incidence (greater than or equal to 20/ 100,000 per year) was found in Sardinia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, the U.K., Canada, and New Zealand. The lowest incidence (<1/100,000 per year) was found in the populations from China and South America. Tn most populations, the incidence increased with age and was the highest among children 10-14 years of age. CONCLUSIONS - The range of global variation in the incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes is even larger than previously described. The earlier reported polar-equatorial gradient in the incidence does not seem to be as strong as preciously assumed, bur the variation seems to follow ethnic and racial distribution in the world population.