Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: To document the incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus in Lithuanian 15–39 years of age population from 1991 to 2012.

Research design and methods: A specifically developed contact system with all endocrinologists and diabetologists and general practitioners involved in the diabetes care covering 100% of the Lithuanian population aged 15–39, was the initial data source. Annual reports from regional family physicians, endocrinologist’s and diabetologists, statistical note-marks of diabetic patients who visited Medical Units, death certificates and patients’ lists from Diabetes Societies remained as secondary independent sources for case ascertainment.

Results: The total of 1,511 new cases (789 males and 722 females) of type 1 diabetes mellitus were recorded among the population 15–39-year of age during the period 1 January 1991–31 December 2012. The cumulative incidence density per year was 8.40/100,000 (95% Poisson distribution confidence interval 8.06–8.75) and was slightly higher among males (10.98/100,000, 95% CI 10.44–11.54) than among females (5.79/100,000, 95% CI 5.40–6.21), P<0.0001. Age standardized and age adjusted overall incidence rates for males and females were 10.99 and 5.81, respectively. Male/female ratio was 1.92. Results of the linear regression models showed that the incidence density of type 1 diabetes mellitus in 15–39-year age group had very slow tendency to decrease.

Conclusions: The results suggest that the incidence data of type 1 diabetes mellitus in Lithuania in 15–39-year-aged group is lower than in other countries of Baltic Sea region. The data contributes to the knowledge of the incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus in Eastern Baltic countries, an area that until now has been lacking epidemiological data on diabetes among 15–39-year aged population.