Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Diabetes skyrockets in kids

Researchers have documented a startling rise in the rate of type 1 diabetes. Diagnoses in kids younger than 5 jumped by 70 percent between 1985 and 2004 in Philadelphia. According to the study by University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, overall, the rate of type 1 diabetes in children aged 14 and younger climbed by nearly 30 percent during that time period.

According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, if current trends continue, the rates of type 1 will increase by 23 percent by 2050.

The other striking finding was that in white and Hispanic children, the incidence of type 1 diabetes jumped dramatically from the 1995 to 1999 study period to the 2000 to 2004 period. The rates of type 1 went up 27 percent in Hispanic kids and 48 percent in white children in that short time period.

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