SAN FRANCISCO — From age 15 years onward, Hispanic females in the United States are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with incident type 2 diabetes than type 1 diabetes, according to an analysis of data from the Search for Diabetes in Youth study.
In addition, at ages 10-14 years, Hispanic females in the United States had twice the incidence of type 2 diabetes in 2002-2005, compared with Hispanic males. The study looked at youths less than 20 years old in populations from six states, Jean M. Lawrence and her associates reported at the annual scientific sessions of the American Diabetes Association.
During that period, 635 youths were diagnosed with diabetes out of a population of more than 3 million, with incidence rates peaking for females at ages 5-9 years and for males at ages 10-14 years, said Ms. Lawrence of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, in Pasadena. She had no conflicts of interest related to the study.
Incidence rates for type 1 diabetes in girls were 9/100,000 in ages 0-4 years, 20/100,000 in ages 5-9 years, 16/100,000 in ages 10-14 years, and 7/100,000 in ages 15-19 years. For boys, incidence rates for type 1 diabetes were 11/100,000 in ages 0-4 years, 16/100,000 in ages 5-9 years, 20/100,000 in ages 10-14 years, and 9/100,000 in ages 15-19 years.
Type 2 diabetes rarely was diagnosed in children less than 10 years old. For ages 10-14 years, the incidence of type 2 diabetes was 15/100,000 for girls and 7/100,000 for boys. For ages 15-19 years, the incidence was 13/100,000 for girls and 11/100,000 for boys.
The study identified prevalent diabetes in the year 2001 in 781 out of more than 641,000 Hispanic youths—most of it type 1 rather than type 2. Prevalence rates did not differ significantly by sex in any of the age groups.
The prevalence increased with age for both diabetes types in both sexes. In individuals ages 15-17 years, the prevalence of type 1 diabetes was 1.6/1,000 for girls and 1.8/1,000 for boys, and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes was 0.8/1,000 for girls and 0.6/1,000 for boys, Ms. Lawrence said.
Data from two additional studies presented in the same session at the meeting showed steep increases in the incidence and prevalence of diabetes in Canadians and a faster than predicted rise in type 1 diabetes in Finland, the world's hot spot for the disease.
In the Canadian study, data on diabetes in all residents younger than 20 years of age in the province of Alberta found 2,301 prevalent cases among 840,000 children and adolescents, for a rate of 28/10,000. Approximately 80% of cases were in 10- to 19-year-olds, Jeffrey A. Johnson, Ph.D., of the University of Alberta, Edmonton, and his associates reported. He had no conflicts of interest in this study.
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