Highest child diabetes rates in whites

DENVER, June 26 (UPI) -- The rates of both type 1 and 2 diabetes in U.S. children are rising, and the incidence in white, non-Hispanic children is the highest.

The increasing incidence of the disease in children matches the increasing incidence in adults in the United States and worldwide, and is due to the obesity epidemic, said researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.

Using data from the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study Group, the researchers noted that the disease was most prevalent in children between 10 and 14 and slightly higher in girls.

The highest incidence rates were observed in non-Hispanic white children (26.1 person years), followed by African-American (25.4 person years) and American Indian youth (25.0 person years). Hispanic and Asian-Pacific Islander children were least affected, the study found.

According to the research, children ages 0 to 9 mostly had type 1 diabetes with the same ethnic spread as above. Type 2 diabetes was rare, but the highest rates were in children 15 to 19 who were American Indian, African-American, Asian-Pacific Islander and Hispanic, in that order.

SEARCH involves 2,435 multiethnic children under age 20 in 10 locations around the United States who were newly diagnosed with diabetes in 2002 and 2003.

The study appears in the June 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the theme of which is chronic diseases in children.