[Incidence of diabetes mellitus and prevalence of type 1A diabetes mellitus in children younger than 16 years old from the province of Ciudad Real]. / Incidencia en menores de 16 años y prevalencia de la diabetes mellitus tipo 1A en la provincia de Ciudad Real.

BACKGROUND: Because of the lack of data from our province, we performed the present study to determine the current situation and future evolution in our region of the most frequent chronic disease in childhood. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence of diabetes mellitus and the prevalence of type 1A diabetes mellitus in children younger than 16 years old from the province of Ciudad Real. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We performed an epidemiological, cross-sectional, observational study. The mark-release-recapture method was used to calculate exhaustivity. The patients were selected through surveys to primary care centers, hospital registries and diabetics associations in our province. All type 1A diabetics were included in the calculation of prevalence. Only diabetics with onset of symptoms in 1999 were included in the calculation of incidence. RESULTS: The incidence of diabetes mellitus in children younger than 16 years old was 26 per 100,000. Twenty-three children were diagnosed with the disease, with an exhaustivity rate of 88.5 %. The prevalence of type 1A diabetes mellitus in children younger than 16 years old was 2.1 per 1,000 and 0.42 per 1,000 inhabitants. The prevalence in the general population was 0.88 per 1,000 inhabitants. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of diabetes mellitus in children younger than 16 years old and the prevalence of type 1A diabetes mellitus in the province of Ciudad Real are higher than expected and are the highest of currently known rates in Spain.