Diabetes incidence continues to rise in children and young adults

Trends in the incidence of juvenile-onset type 1 and type 2 diabetes in the United States, 2002–18: Results from the population-based study SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth

Abstract

Background

The incidence of diabetes is increasing in children and youth.Our objective was to describe the incidence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in children and young people under 20 years of age over a 17-year period.

Methods

The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study identified children and youth aged 0 to 19 years with a medical diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 diabetes at five centers in the U.S. between 2002 and 2018. Eligible participants included non-military and non-institutionalized individuals residing in one of the study areas at the time of diagnosis. The number of children and youth at risk for diabetes was obtained from the census or count of health plan enrollees.

Generalized autoregressive moving average models were used to examine trends, and data are presented as incidence of type 1 diabetes per 100,000 children and young people under 20 years of age and incidence of type 2 diabetes per 100,000 children and young people aged 10 years and under 20 years in age categories, gender, race or ethnicity, geographic region, and month or season of diagnosis.

Results

We identified 18,169 children and youth aged 0 to 19 years with type 1 diabetes in 85 million person-years and 5293 children and young people aged 10 to 19 years with type 2 diabetes in 44 million person-years.In 2017–18, the annual incidence of type 1 diabetes was 22.2 per 100,000 and that of type 2 diabetes was 17.9 per 100,000.

The trend model captured both a linear effect and a moving average effect, with a significant increasing linear (annual) effect for both type 1 diabetes (2.02% [95% CI 1.54–2.49]) and type 2 diabetes (5.31% [4.46–6.17]).

Children and youth from racial and ethnic minority groups, such as Hispanic and non-Hispanic children and youth, had greater increases in the incidence of both types of diabetes.

The maximum age at diagnosis was 10 years (95% CI 8-11) for type 1 diabetes and 16 years (16-17) for type 2 diabetes. The season was significant for type 1 diabetes (p=0·0062) and type 2 diabetes (p=0·0006), with a peak of type 1 diabetes diagnoses in January and a peak of type 2 diabetes diagnoses in August.

Interpretation

The increasing incidence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in children and youth in the U.S.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will result in an expanding population of young adults at risk of developing of diabetes whose health care needs will exceed those of their peers. Findings regarding age and season of diagnosis will inform focused prevention efforts.

Comments

New findings from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine confirm that rates of type 1 and type 2 diabetes continue to rise in children and young adults. Non-Hispanic black and Hispanic children and young adults also had higher rates of diabetes incidence. The study appears online in the current issue of The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Source — https://www.intramed.net/103804