The incidence of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Israeli children and adolescents 0-20 years of age: a retrospective study, 1975-1980.

A survey of the entire population of Israel revealed 392 newly diagnosed type I diabetic children and adolescents aged 0-20 for the period of 1975-80. The mean annual age specific incidence of type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus was 3.8/10(5) for the age group 0-14 yr and 4.2/10(5) for the age group 0-20 yr. The incidence among the Jews of Ashkenazi origin was 6.8 X 10(5) and that for Jews of non-Ashkenazi origin was 4.3 X 10(5), whereas that for the Arabs was 1.2 X 10(5). The overall incidence is lower than that reported for similar populations in most European countries, the USA, Canada, and New Zealand; similar to that reported for Arabs in Kuwait; and higher than only that found in Japan. The relative importance of environmental and genetic factors in the interpopulation differences in incidence of type I diabetes remains to be established.

Mortality of patients with childhood onset (0-17 years) Type I diabetes in Israel: a population-based study.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The aim of this study was to examine the mortality rate of subjects with childhood-onset Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus in Israel. METHODS: The whole-country cohort of 1,861 children and adolescents (0-17 years) with Type I diabetes, diagnosed between January 1965 and December 1993 in Israel, was analysed for mortality up to October 1996. RESULTS: A total of 37 deaths were identified with an ascertainment rate of 100%. There was a significant (p < 0.001) excess mortality in the patients with Type I diabetes, the standard mortality ratio being three times higher than that of the general population. The causes of mortality were ketoacidosis (n = 8), infections (n = 8), chronic diabetes complications (n = 9), external causes (n = 6) and other (n = 6). Among the subjects who died, the prevalence of nephropathy, neuropathy and anaemia was higher in female than in male subjects. A total of 17 of the patients with diabetes who died had a central nervous disease (psychosis, mental retardation, epilepsy). There was a trend to lower mortality among the Arab cohort which did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Our data provide additional evidence that childhood-onset Type I diabetes carries an increased mortality risk when compared with the mortality risk of the non-diabetic population.