Descriptive Epidemiology of IDDM in Hokkaido, Japan: The Childhood IDDM Hokkaido Registry
- Nobuo Matsuura, MD,
- Katsuhiro Fukuda, MD,
- Akimasa Okuno, MD,
- Shohei Harada, MD,
- Naoki Fukushima, MD,
- Akemi Koike, MD,
- Yoshiya Ito, MD and
- Tomoyuki Hotsubo, MD
- Department of Pediatrics, Kitasato University Sagamihara
- Asahikawa Medical College Asahikawa
- Department of Pediatrics, Hokkaido University Sapporo
- Sapporo Municipal Hospital Sapporo
- Tonan General Hospital Sapporo
- Hokkaido Institute of Public Health Sapporo
- Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine Sapporo
- Department of Public Health, Kurume University School of Medicine Kurume, Japan
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Nobuo Matsuura, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Kitasato University School of Medicine, 1-15-1, Kitasato, Sagamihara, 228 Japan. E-mail: nobumats{at}med.kitasato-u.ac.jp
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To identify the incidence of IDDM with regard to sex, age, family history of diabetes, season, and 5-year period of childhood IDDM among children ages 0–14 years from a population-based epidemiological study in Hokkaido, Japan, from 1973 to 1992.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Registration of all new IDDM cases in Hokkaido was conducted by the Childhood IDDM Hokkaido Registry Study Group from 1973 to 1992. The cases were selected from among 1) patients who were admitted to the member hospitals of the study group, 2) patients who answered a questionnaire distributed to hospitals and diabetic clinics throughout Hokkaido, and 3) patients whose cases were recorded in free-treatment medical records of urban and rural districts. The case ascertainment rate was estimated to be 100%. Differences in incidence with regard to sex, age, family history of diabetes, season, and year period were analyzed by the Poisson regression analysis by GENMOD.
RESULTS During the 20-year period studied, 396 cases (181 boys, 215 girls) of abruptonset IDDM were registered. Statistically significant differences in annual incidence were found according to sex (female), age (8–14 years), history (having no diabetes in family), season (spring), and 5-year period.
CONCLUSIONS This is the first population-based, long-term epidemiological study of childhood IDDM from Japan. We observed a significantly higher annual incidence (per 100,000/year) of IDDM in female subjects (1.81), older age-groups (2.25 for 8–14 years), subjects with no family history of diabetes (1.26), diabetes onset in the spring (2.20), and an increased trend over the 20 years. In addition, the heterogeneity of IDDM among Japanese children needs to be elucidated.
- Received August 26, 1997.
- Revision received May 11, 1998.
- Accepted May 11, 1998.
- Copyright © 1998 by the American Diabetes Association
