Rising incidence of Type 1 diabetes in Belgrade children aged 0-14 years in the period from 1982 to 2005

Abstract

Background: Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) is an autoimmune disease in which both genetic and environmental factors play a role in the etiology. Aim: The aim of this studywas to analyze the incidence of T1DM. Methods: A retrospective technique was used to register all newly diagnosed cases of T1DM in Belgrade (Serbia) children at the age of 0-14 yr between 1982 and 2005. The incidence was adjusted directly by age using the Segi's world population as the standard. A total of 702 cases was identified from the two sources: patients' records from two pediatric hospitals in Belgrade referent for the disease, and from the population based register. Results: The average annual age adjusted incidence rate of T1DM for Belgrade was 10.4/100,000 [95% confidence interval (95% CI)=3.8-15.4]. It was slightly higher in boys than in girls. The age-specific annual incidence rates (per 100,000) for the age groups 0-4, 5-9, and 10-14were 5.5 (95% CI=4.5-6.7), 11.9 (95% CI=10.5-13.5), and 15.4 (95% CI=13.8-17.1), respectively. Over the 24 yr incidence rates significantly increased by 8.5% for boys and 3.0% for girls. The highest increase of incidence rate was in the 5-9 age group. Discussion: The results obtained are in line with data from other studies showing that the incidence of T1DM has been increasing in almost all populations worldwide. ©2013, Editrice Kurtis.