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Who is affected by type 1 diabetes

About 20.8 million people in the United States have diabetes; about 6.2 million of those people don't know that they have it.1

About 5% to 10% of people with diabetes have type 1 diabetes.1

  • About 1 in every 400 children and adolescents has type 1 diabetes.1
  • Type 1 diabetes most often develops in girls around 10 to 12 years of age and in boys around 12 to 14 years of age.
  • The incidence of type 1 diabetes seems to be increasing, and there appears to be an increase among young children, especially from birth to age 4. It is not clear why this is occurring.2
  • White people have a higher rate of type 1 diabetes than other racial groups.

Citations

  1. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2005). National Diabetes Fact Sheet. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available online: http://www.diabetes.org/uedocuments/NationalDiabetesFactSheetRev.pdf.

  2. Devendra D, et al. (2004). Type 1 diabetes: Recent developments. BMJ, 328(7442): 750–754.

Author Robin Parks, MS
Editor Alison Allen
Editor Kathleen M. Ariss, MS
Associate Editor Pat Truman
Primary Medical Reviewer Caroline S. Rhoads, MD
- Internal Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer Matthew I. Kim, MD
- Endocrinology & Metabolism
Last Updated November 21, 2006

WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise

Last Updated: November 21, 2006
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