Incidence trend of type 1 diabetes mellitus in Serbia

The incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) increased worldwide. The objective of the paper was to compare the incidence trend of T1DM in children and adolescents aged 0-19 and in adults under 30 years of age in Serbia from 2006 to 2017. Additional aim was to compare incidence rates of T1DM and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among adults aged 20-24 and 25-29 years of age. Trends and annual percentage change (APC) of the incidence rate with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by Joinpoint Regression Analyses. We found a significant increase of incidence in children aged 5-9 with the APC of 5.7% (95%CI: 2.3-9.1), and in children aged 10-14 with the APC of 2.1% (95%CI: 0.6-3.6). A significant decrease of incidence was determined in adolescents aged 15-19 with the APC -4.9% (95%CI: - 8.9 to - 0.7) and in adults aged 25-29 with the APC -7.3% (95%CI: - 12.5 to - 1.8). The increase of incidence in children aged 0-14 and its decrease after 15 years of age showed that T1DM is predominantly a metabolic disease of children in Serbia. A significant increase in incidence was recorded in two age groups, namely 5-9 and 10-14 years of age. The highest increase was in children aged 5-9 and the highest incidence rate was in children aged 10-14. An insignificant increasing of T2DM incidence was observed in young adults aged 25-29. The increase in incidence rates in children, but not in young adults, suggests that the precipitating factors of children-onset disease may differ from those of adult-onset T1DM.