Australia is in the top 10 countries with the highest rates of
Type 1 diabetes in children, with about 1,000 children 14 years and
younger developing this type of diabetes each year, according to a
report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare.
The report provides the latest information from Australia's
National Diabetes Register (NDR). The register applies to
Australians who began using insulin for diabetes since 1999.
'There were about 7,000 children who developed Type 1 diabetes
over the 8-year 2000-2007 period', said Katherine Faulks of the
Institute's Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes and Kidney Unit.
'There were 990 new cases in 2007, a 30% increase compared with
the number of new cases in 2000', she said.
The report, Insulin-treated diabetes in Australia,
2000-2007, also looked at insulin-treated cases of Type 2
diabetes and found that there were almost 6,000 new cases in people
aged 15-34 years of age over the 8-year period.
However, the vast majority (95%) of new cases still occurred in
people aged 35 and over.
'Across all ages, there was a 63% increase in new cases of
insulin-treated Type 2 diabetes, between 2000 and 2007,' Ms Faulks
said.
According to the report, about 1 in 5 people with Type 2
diabetes use insulin to treat their condition.
The report also found that there was a 6-fold increase in the
number of new cases of insulin-treated gestational diabetes among
women aged 15-49 years between 2000 and 2007.
'All these numbers are saying the same thing, which is that the
incidence of insulin-treated diabetes in Australia is increasing,
no matter what the age group or the type of diabetes', Ms Faulks
said.
Friday 21 August 2009
Further information: Ms Katherine Faulks, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1120, mob. 0407 915 851
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. (02) 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications area
for the availability of Insulin-treated diabetes
in Australia, 2000-2007.