Does the secular increase in body mass in children contribute to the increasing incidence of type 1 diabetes?

doi:10.1111/j.1399-5448.2007.00344.x

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Wiley InterScience

Pediatric Diabetes

Volume 9 Issue 3pt2, Pages 46 - 49

Published Online: 21 Jan 2008

Official publication of ISPAD

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Original Article

Does the secular increase in body mass in children contribute to the increasing incidence of type 1 diabetes?

Mikael Knip ^a,b , Antti Reunanen ^c , Suvi M Virtanen ^c,d,e , Matti Nuutinen ^f , Jorma Viikari ^g Hans K ÅKerblom ^a

^a Hospital for Children and Adolescents, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; ^bDepartment of Pediatrics, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland; ^cNational Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland; ^dTampere School of Public Health, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland; ^eTampere University Hospital Research Unit, Tampere, Finland; ^fDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; and ^gDepartment of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

Correspondence to Mikael Knip, MD
Hospital for Children and Adolescents
University of Helsinki
P.O. Box 281
FIN-00029 HUCH
Helsinki
Finland.
Tel: +358-9-47172701;
fax: +358-3-47175299;
e-mail: mikael.knip@hus.fi

KEYWORDS

beta-cell stress • BMI • incidence • secular growth • type 1 diabetes

Knip M, Reunanen A, Virtanen SM, Nuutinen M, Viikari J, Åkerblom HK. Does the secular increase in body mass in children contribute to the increasing incidence of type 1 diabetes?
Pediatric Diabetes 2008: 9 (Part II): 46–49.

ABSTRACT

Background: The incidence of type 1 diabetes in children has increased in most developed countries after World War II, and simultaneously, normal children have experienced accelerated weight gain and growth.

Objective: We set out to explore whether any relationship can be seen between the incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes and changes in linear growth and body mass in Finnish children over a 12-yr period.

Methods: Incidence rates for type 1 diabetes in Finnish children under the age of 15 yr were obtained from the National Central Drug Registry. The rates were averaged for 3-yr intervals over the 15-yr period 1979–1993 and related to data on mean height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) in 15-yr-old children generated for the years 1980, 1983, 1986, 1989, and 1992 by the 'Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns' study.

Results: There was a positive correlation between the incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes and mean heights (r = 0.84; p = 0.039), mean weights (r = 0.85; p = 0.036), and mean BMIs (r = 0.87; p = 0.028) in 15-yr-old children over the 12-yr study period.

Conclusions: This observation suggests that accelerated linear growth and increasing body mass may contribute to the rising incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes seen in most developed countries since World War II. This effect might be mediated through increased beta-cell stress induced by hyperinsulinemia and decreased insulin sensitivity, associated with rapid linear growth and obesity.

Submitted 26 July 2007. Accepted for publication 14 September 2007

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1399-5448.2007.00344.x About DOI