An Epidemiologic Profile of Children With Diabetes in the U.S.

Abstract

The incidence of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in children appears to be increasing in the U.S. (1–4), likely attributable, at least for type 2 diabetes, to the emerging epidemic of childhood obesity. Unfortunately, national prevalence estimates of children with diabetes, and nationally representative data about the demographic characteristics of children with diabetes, are limited. One study, based on just 13 cases, reported the prevalence of diabetes among adolescents aged 12–19 years to be 4.1 per 1,000 (5). We used recently released data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) to determine the prevalence of diabetes in U.S. children based on parental report and to examine the association between the presence of obesity and diabetes. The NSCH was a population-based cross-sectional household telephone survey sponsored by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, the National Center for Health Statistics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (6). The NSCH used random-digit dialing to recruit and survey households with children <18 years of age. One child in each household was randomly selected to be the subject of the survey, and the respondent for the interview was the parent or …