Since 2000, statistically significant reversal of early-onset diabetes in Swedish children
THURSDAY, Feb. 24 (HealthDay News) -- The trend toward the earlier onset of childhood type 1 diabetes (T1D) is undergoing a statistically significant reversal in Sweden, according to a study published in the February issue of Diabetes.
Yonas Berhan, from Umeå University in Sweden, and colleagues analyzed the time trend of T1D by age, sex, and birth cohort. A total of 14,721 incident cases of T1D recorded in the nationwide Swedish Childhood Diabetes Registry between 1978 and 2007 with onset from 0 to 14.9 years was included.
The researchers found that age and sex-specific incidence rates varied widely during the study, from 21.6 from 1978 to 1980 to 43.9 from 2005 to 2007. During the first 22 years of the study, cumulative incidence trends by birth cohort showed a shift to a younger age at onset; however, in participants born after 2000, there has been a statistically significant reversal in this trend.
"The current study indicates for the first time a reversed pattern with a shift to older age at onset by birth cohort among children born after the year 2000," the authors write. "Our data point at a break in the worrying trend of increase in childhood-onset T1D in Sweden, indicating that prevention by changes in lifestyle habits is possible."
Abstract
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