The Value of National Diabetes Registries: SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common severe chronic diseases of childhood. Much of our knowledge of the epidemiology of diabetes in young people has been generated by large collaborative efforts based on standardized registry data, such as the DIAMOND Project worldwide and the EURODIAB study in Europe. These registries showed that although at the start of the 20th century childhood diabetes was rare, by the end of the century a steady increase in incidence had been reported in many parts of the world. However, epidemiologic data for temporal trends in pediatric diabetes are still lacking or are minimal for most of the global population of youth, including in the United States. In addition, the epidemiology of diabetes in youth is changing. As youth are becoming increasingly overweight, we are seeing more obese children with a clinical phenotype of type 2 diabetes or "adult-onset" diabetes. It is imperative that efforts directed at surveillance of diabetes in young people continue and expand, not only to understand its complex etiology, but also because of its increasing public health importance.

Increasing rates of diabetes amongst status Aboriginal youth in Alberta, Canada

“…Though our results are in line with international data showing increasing trends (20,21), they contradict the recent NDSS reports (12,22), which found diabetes prevalence and incidence rates remained stable at 0.3 and 0.4 (per 1,000) respectfully among general population youth between 2001–2006. This suggests that increases in diabetes among Canadian youth vary geographically and require investigation.…”

Incidence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in youth in the US Virgin Islands, 2001-2010

“…Standardized population‐based registries are commonly used tools for monitoring incidence, and further investigation of etiology, risk factors, and complications. In the late 1980s, the US Virgin Islands (USVI) Childhood Diabetes Registry was established, along with other registries in over 50 countries, as a part of the World Health Organization Multinational Project for Childhood Diabetes DIAMOND Study . The DIAMOND Study estimated that the worldwide incidence of type 1 diabetes is rising approximately 3% annually, with very high global variation.…”

Diabetes Care, Glycemic Control, Complications, and Concomitant Autoimmune Diseases in Children with Type 1 Diabetes in Turkey: A Multicenter Study

“…Information about T1DM rapidly increased along with the data of these large, well-organized record systems. Developing a national registry system for T1DM, the incidence of which varies among races and countries, is of great importance for the prevention of microvascular and macrovascular complications (14). …”