Number of diabetic patients

Incidence of type 1 diabetes

• The BDR has studied type 1 diabetes in the age group under age 40 and found that type 1 diabetes occurs at any age, more patients are diagnoses between 15 and 40 years than before 15 years of age.
• There are approximately 10 new type 1 patients under age 40 per 100.000 inhabitants per year in Belgium, which is comparable with neighbouring countries.

• In children under 15 years, there are as many boys as girls with type 1 diabetes
• In the age group between 15 and 40 years, there are more men than women with type 1 diabetes.

Earlier manifestation of type 1 diabetes

• There is a steady increase in the number of new cases of type 1 diabetes under age 15 in Belgium, but not between age 15 and 40.
• Overall the disease is progressively diagnosed at a younger age.

• This is a worrisome trend. Patients who developed the disease at an early age usually have a more severe form of diabetes and their tissues are exposed to high blood sugar levels for longer periods of time. They have a higher risk of developing chronic complications.
• A possible cause of this earlier manifestation is the increase in the prevalence of overweight in the Belgian population, but this hypothesis still needs to be confirmed.

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Seasonal pattern of onset of type 1 diabetes

• There is a seasonal pattern of onset of type 1 diabetes diagnosed under age 40.
• There were more new patients diagnosed in winter than during the warmer and sunnier summer months.

• However, the presence of a seasonal pattern at onset of type 1 diabetes seems to be limited to men above age 10 without genetic susceptibility.
• These differences can be attributed to a variable contribution of genetic and external factors to the disease process according to sex, age and season.
  

Paper