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


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Lipton
Rebecca
R
Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Chicago, IL, USA. rlipton@peds.bsd.uchicago.edu
Keenan
Hillary
H
Onyemere
K U
KU
Freels
Sally
S
D000293:Adolescent; D017668:Age of Onset; D044383:Black People; D002641:Chicago / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008913:Minority Groups; D012042:Registries; D001741:Black or African American