Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes

There were around 63,700 hospitalisations where type 1 diabetes was recorded as the principal and/or additional diagnosis in 2017–18, with 15,700 as the principal diagnosis and 48,000 as an additional diagnosis.

Age and sex

In 2017–18, type 1 diabetes hospitalisation rates (as the principal diagnosis) were:

  • similar among males and females overall (63 and 67 per 100,000 population, respectively).
  • highest among young people aged 10–19 (96 and 118 per 100,000 for males and females, respectively) (Figure 2a).

Figure 2a: Type 1 diabetes hospitalisations (principal diagnosis), by age group and sex, 2017–18

The bar chart shows hospitalisations with type 1 diabetes as the principal diagnosis peaked in the 10–19 age group with 96 and 118 hospitalisations for males and females, respectively, per 100,000 population. Hospitalisation rates were 1.2 and 1.4 times higher for females than males in the 10–19 and 20–29 age group. Rates were similar or slightly higher for males in all other age groups.

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Overall, hospitalisation rates for type 1 diabetes showed a different age pattern when recorded as an additional diagnosis rather than the principal diagnosis—overall rates increased to age group 70–79 and then declined (Figure 2b).

Figure 2b: Type 1 diabetes hospitalisations (additional diagnosis), by age group and sex, 2017–18

The bar chart shows hospitalisations with type 1 diabetes as the additional diagnosis increased with age and peaked in the 70–79 age group (400 per 100,000 males and 326 per 100,000 females, respectively).

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Variations between population groups

In 2017–18, type 1 diabetes hospitalisation rates (as the principal and/or additional diagnosis) varied by remoteness and increased with socioeconomic disadvantage. Rates were:

  • higher in Inner regional and Outer regional areas (329 and 272 per 100,000 population, respectively) compared with Major cities and Remote and very remote areas (230 and 198 per 100,000, respectively).
  • 1.6 times as high among those living in the lowest socioeconomic areas as those living in the highest socioeconomic areas—313 and 193 per 100,000, respectively. This difference was similar for males and females (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Type 1 diabetes hospitalisations (principal and/or additional diagnosis), by remoteness and socioeconomic area, 2017–18

The bar chart shows type 1 diabetes hospitalisations (principal and/or additional diagnosis) in 2017–18 were slightly higher in Inner regional and Outer regional areas compared with Major cities and Remote and very remote areas, for both males and females. The chart also shows type 1 diabetes hospitalisations increased with the level of socioeconomic disadvantage in 2017–18. Similar for males and females, the rate per 100,000 population increased from 193 for the least disadvantaged areas up to 313 for the most disadvantaged areas. 

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

In 2017–18, there were around 3,100 hospitalisations for type 1 diabetes (as the principal and/or additional diagnosis) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, a rate of 374 per 100,000 population.

After adjusting for differences in the age structure of the populations:

  • the rate among Indigenous Australians was 1.9 times the rate for non-Indigenous Australians.
  • the difference between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians was greater for males than females—2.2 times as high for males and 1.6 times as high for females.