Summary
To provide information of the incidence trends of Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus we performed a cohort study of a series of Danish male birth cohorts. All male livebirths in Denmark between 1 January 1949 and 31 December 1964, were investigated regarding the development of Type 1 diabetes during the first 20 years of life using the files of the Danish Conscript Board, supplemented by a search in the Danish National Registry of Deaths. Diagnosis was verified and clinical information obtained from medical records. The material is estimated to be more than 95 % complete. A total of 1705 diabetic subjects were identified of whom 23 were not representative of idiopathic Type 1 diabetes. The cumulative rate of Type 1 diabetes development during the first 20 years of life increased from 2.37 to 2.90 per 1000 for the first eight and last eight birth cohorts, respectively. A log-linear analysis of the incidence revealed significantly increasing incidence rates, independent of age effects, with a maximum in the late 1970's. About 75 % of the cases presented short duration of symptoms prior to diagnosis, and only very few cases were diagnosed incidentally. Cases were diagnosed relatively less frequently during summer months than during winter months.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hägglöf B, Holmgren G, Wall S (1982) Incidence of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus among children in a North-Swedish population 1938–1977. Hum Hered 32: 408–417
Patterson CC, Thorogood M, Smith PG, Heasman MA, Clarke JA, Mann JI (1983) Epidemiology of Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes in Scotland 1968–1976: evidence of an increasing incidence. Diabetologia 24: 238–243
Green A, Andersen PK (1983) Epidemiological studies of diabetes mellitus in Denmark: 3. Clinical characteristics and incidence of diabetes among males aged 0 to 19 years. Diabetologia 25: 226–230
Joner G, Søvik O (1989) Increasing incidence of diabetes mellitus in Norwegian children 0–14 years of age 1973–1982. Diabetologia 32: 79–83
Burden AC, Hearnshaw JR, Swift PGF (1989) Childhood diabetes mellitus: an increasing incidence. Diab Med 6: 334–336
Nyström L, Dahlquist G, Rewers M, Wall S (1990) The Swedish Childhood Diabetes Study. An analysis of the temporal variation in diabetes incidence 1978–1987. Int J Epidemiol 19: 141–146
Soltész G, Madácsy L, Békefi D, Dankó I, the Hungarian Child-hood Diabetes Epidemiology Group (1990) Rising incidence of Type 1 diabetes in Hungarian children (1978–1987). Diab Med 7: 111–114
Tuomilehto J, Rewers M, Reunanen A et al. (1991) Increasing trend in Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus in childhood in Finland. Analysis of age, calendar time and birth cohort effects during 1965 to 1984. Diabetologia 34: 282–287
Rewers M, LaPorte RE, Walczak M, Dmochowski K, Bogaczynska E (1987) Apparent epidemic of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Midwestern Poland. Diabetes 36: 106–113
Diabetes Epidemiology Research International Group (1988) Geographic patterns of childhood insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Diabetes 37: 1113–1119
Rewers M, LaPorte RE, King H, Tuomilehto J (1988) Trends in the prevalence and incidence of diabetes: insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in childhood. World Health Statist Quart 41: 179–189
Green A, The EURODIAB Subarea A Study Group (1990) Geographical distribution of childhood Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes in Europe: The EURODIAB Subarea A Study. Diabetologia 33: A17 (Abstract)
Green A (1990) The role of genetic factors in development of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. In: Bækkeskov S, Hansen B (eds) Human diabetes. Genetic, environmental and autoimmune etiology. Current topics in microbiology and immunology, Vol. 164. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 3–16
Green A, Hauge M, Holm NV, Rasch LL (1980) Epidemiological studies of diabetes mellitus in Denmark. I. A case finding method based on the National Service Conscript Registry. Diabetologia 19: 355–358
Andersen PK, Green A (1985) Evaluation of estimation bias in an illness-death-emigration model. Scand J Statist 12: 63–68
Breslow NE, Day NE (1987) Statistical methods in cancer research, Vol. II. The design and analysis of cohort studies. IARC, Lyon
GENSTAT 5 Committee of the Statistics Department, Rothamstead Experimental Station (1989) GENSTAT 5 Reference Manual. Oxford Science Publications, Oxford
Christau B, Kromann H, Andersen OO et al. (1977) Incidence, seasonal and geographic patterns of juvenile-onset insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Denmark. Diabetologia 13: 281–284
Sterky G, Holmgren G, Gustavson KH et al. (1978) The incidence of diabetes mellitus in Swedish children 1970–1975. Acta Pædiatr Scand 67: 139–143
Gray RS, Duncan LJP, Clarke BF (1979) Seasonal onset of insulin dependent diabetes in relation to sex and age at onset. Diabetologia 17: 29–32
Durruty P, Ruiz F, Garcia de los Rios M (1979) Age at diagnosis and seasonal variation in the onset of insulin-dependent diabetes in Chile (southern hemisphere). Diabetologia 17: 357–360
Fishbein HA, LaPorte RE, Orchard TJ, Drash AL, Kuller LH, Wagener DK (1982) The Pittsburgh insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus registry: seasonal incidence. Diabetologia 23: 83–85
Gleason RE, Kahn CB, Funk IB, Craighead JE (1982) Seasonal incidence of insulin-dependent diabetes (IDDM) in Massachusetts, 1964–1973. Int J Epidemiol 11: 39–45
Reunanen A, Åkerblom HK, Käär M-J (1982) Prevalence and ten-year (1970–1979) incidence of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents in Finland. Acta Pædiatr Scand 71: 893–899
Hours M, Fabry J, Siemiatycki J, Francois R (1984) Diabète insulino-dépendant juvénile. Etude descriptive dans le département du Rhône. Rev Epidém et Santé Publ 32: 107–112
Dahlquist G, Blom L, Holmgren G et al. (1985) The epidemiology of diabetes in Swedish children 0–14 years — a six-year prospective study. Diabetologia 28: 802–808
Schober E, Frisch H (1988) Incidence of childhood diabetes mellitus in Austria 1979–1984. Acta Pædiatr Scand 77: 299–302
Calori G, Gallus G, Garancini P, Repetto F, Micossi P (1990) Identification of the cohort of Type 1 diabetes presenting in Lombardy in 1983–1984: a validated assessment. Diab Med 7: 595–599
Serrano Rios M, Moy CS, Serrano RM et al. (1990) Incidence of Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus in subjects 0–14 years of age in the Comunidad of Madrid, Spain. Diabetologia 33: 422–424
Green A, Borch-Johnsen K, Andersen PK et al. (1985) Relative mortality of Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes in Denmark: 1933–1981. Diabetologia 28: 339–342
Green A, Svejgaard A, Platz P et al. (1985) The genetic susceptibility to insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM): combined segregation and linkage analysis. Genet Epidemiol 2: 1–15
Dahlquist G, Blom L, Tuvemo T, Nyström L, Sandström A, Wall S (1989) The Swedish Childhood Diabetes Study-results from a nine year case register and a one year case-referent study indicating that Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus is associated with both Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus and autoimmune disorders. Diabetologia 32: 2–6
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Green, A., Andersen, P.K., Svendsen, A.J. et al. Increasing incidence of early onset Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus: a study of Danish male birth cohorts. Diabetologia 35, 178–182 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00402552
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00402552