Rising Incidence of Type 1 Diabetes in Germany
12-Year trend analysis in children 0–14 years of age
- Andreas Neu, MD,
- Stefan Ehehalt, CAND MED,
- Andre Willasch, CAND MED,
- Martin Kehrer, MD,
- Regine Hub, MD and
- Michael B. Ranke, MD FRCP(EDIN)
- University Children’s Hospital, Tuebingen, Germany
Epidemiological studies from all parts of the world have reported increases in incidence of type 1 diabetes (1). In a 6-year population-based study that concluded in 1993 and was published in 1997, the incidence of type 1 diabetes in German children 0–14 years of age was reported to be 11.6 per 100,000 children a year (95% CI 10.9–12.2) (2). Using the Baden-Wuerttemberg (BW) incidence registry, data regarding 2,525 children with diabetes were analyzed over a 12-year period. Our objective was to determine the most recent trends in the incidence of childhood diabetes in Germany.
BW is a federal state in Southwest Germany. The total number of inhabitants was 10.4 million at the time of this research, and 1.8 million (16.9%) were younger than 15 years of age. This corresponds to 13.3% of the total child population in Germany. These population data were drawn from a national census in 1987 and the official yearly update thereafter.
Patients were registered according to European Diabetes (EURODIAB) …
