Nursery World - Alarming rise in diabetes

The number of pre-school children diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes has risen dramatically, a study has revealed. A five-fold increase over 20 years in the disease in children aged under five was found by a research team at the University of Bristol, funded by Diabetes UK. Studying 2.6 million people in the Oxford area between 1985 and 2004, they found that the cumulative incidence of diabetes by age five increased from 0.2 cases to one case per 1,000 children, and by age 15 from 2.5 to 4.2 cases per 1,000 children.

A five-fold increase over 20 years in the disease in children aged under five was found by a research team at the University of Bristol, funded by Diabetes UK. Studying 2.6 million people in the Oxford area between 1985 and 2004, they found that the cumulative incidence of diabetes by age five increased from 0.2 cases to one case per 1,000 children, and by age 15 from 2.5 to 4.2 cases per 1,000 children.

Professor Polly Bingley, who led the study, said, 'The increase is too steep to be put down to genetic factors, so it must be due to changes in our environment. This could mean that either we are being exposed to something new, or that we have reduced exposure to something that was previously controlling our immune responses. We now need to work to identify what these changes might be.'

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