Incidence and onset features of diabetes in African-American and Latino children in Chicago, 1985–1994

✍ Scribed by Rebecca Lipton; Hillary Keenan; K. U. Onyemere; Sally Freels

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 100 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1520-7552
• DOI: 10.1002/dmrr.265

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Aims

The study aimed to describe the epidemiology of diabetes in minority children residing in Chicago, IL, USA, and to compare the demographic and clinical characteristics of those with type 1 to those with youth‐onset type 2 diabetes.

Methods

Medical records were obtained on 735 insulin‐treated African‐American and Latino children aged 0–17 years at onset, and diagnosed between 1985 and 1994; 195 of the children were interviewed. Subjects were presumed to have type 2 diabetes if they fitted specific criteria. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted and Poisson regression was used to analyze time trends.

Results

Ten‐year average annual incidence of childhood diabetes for African‐Americans [15.2/10^5^, 95% confidence interval (CI): 13.5, 17.0] was significantly higher than for Latinos (10.7/10^5^, 95% CI: 9.1, 12.6). The average annual incidence was 10.3/10^5^ population for type 1 and 3.2/10^5^ for those with presumed type 2 diabetes. Most patients (99.6% of type 1, 94.1% of type 2) exhibited more than one of the classic onset symptoms of type 1 diabetes. Mean age at diagnosis was older, 13.1 versus 10.5 years, and there were more females, 62.4%, versus 49.8%, among the type 2 patients; ethnicity was not an important distinguishing factor.

Conclusion

The risk of childhood diabetes increased among African‐Americans and Latinos between 1985 and 1994, driven by an increase in children with type 2 diabetes. This is likely related both to an increase in risk factors, i.e. obesity, and to changes in diagnostic practice. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.