Epidemiology of type 1 diabetes among Silesian children aged 0–14 years, 1989–2005

The aim of this study was to estimate the present Polish incidence rate of diabetes mellitus type 1 in children aged 0–14. The research was conducted between 1989 and 2005 among the children of Upper Silesia region (Poland), being the part of the EURODIAB program, according to all criteria of this project. During this period, 1,385 new cases (720 boys) of diabetes mellitus type 1 were recognized. The analysis of the standardized incidence rates performed after dividing into shorter periods (1989–1994, 1995–1999, 2000–2005) showed a sharp increase from 5.80/105/year through 9.54/105/year to 15.26/105/year, respectively, in the periods. Analysis of age subgroups showed the greatest increase in the incidence rate among the younger children: 3.59 times for children aged 0–4, 3.40 times for children aged 5–9 and 2.08 times for children aged 10–14. No significant difference of incidence rate between boys and girls was established. Such high increase of incidence rate of diabetes mellitus type 1 (above 260%) noted since 1989 shows a secular trend of an epidemic of diabetes mellitus type 1 in Poland and a conversion from countries with the lower incidence rates in Europe to the countries with the highest incidence rates.