13 out of 100,000 Catalans suffer from type 1 diabetes, the most common in children.
The incidence rate of new cases of type 1 diabetes in Catalunya is intermediate, and currently affects 13 out of 100,000 Catalans, this type especially being common in children and young people, according to a study conducted by the Eurodiab -'Europe and Diabetes'-.
In Catalonia, this annual increase is lower compared to other years and countries, but there are currently 1,923 patients with this disease, according to a statement from the Department of Health of the Generalitat.
The incidence rate in Catalonia is well below some countries in northern Europe, but is similar to that of Western countries.In addition, the increase in cases is the lowest of the study, with a tendency to stabilization.
The report shows that there is an inverse relationship between the basal incidence of the disease and the increase in new cases.That is, countries with high frequency rates of child diabetes have increased new cases more directly than countries that started from a lower basal incidence.
According to the Endocrinologist of the Sea Hospital of Barcelona Albert Goday there are no effective prevention strategies to avoid the appearance of this disease, unlike type 2 diabetes, which has control and prevention programs by the Ministry.
Type 1 diabetes represents between 6 and 8 percent of the total people with diabetes in Catalonia, being the most majority type 2.The first precise treatment with insulin since the beginning of the disease.
According to experts, type 1 is due to a "complex interrelation of factors", especially genetic and exposure to environmental phenomena.This has a "clear base" autoimmune that makes the organism, through its defenses system, destroy its own B cells of the pancreas-the ones in charge of producing insulin.
More than 10 million people in Europe have diabetes, a disease that affects insulin production in the body and alters the metabolism of sugars.Some people develop in adulthood, above all, those with sedentary habits or obesity-is type 2-.
At European level, the incidence rate ranges from 10.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and 52.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, increasing in the younger age groups.
Specifically, the disease grows 3.9 percent annually and predicts that, if the trend is maintained, children's diabetes-which affects children under five-will double between 2005 and 2020. The population under 15years affected by the disease will increase by 70 percent.
The study estimates that the number of new cases in 2005 was 15,000, distributed among all age stripes, and predicts that in 2020 there will be 160,000 cases in Europe.
The Generalitat has the Catalunya Type 1 Diabetes Registry initiated in 1987, unique in Spain, which all hospital centers periodically send the data of the new cases detected.
The study, which was published today in the magazine 'The Lancet', implies 17 European countries and reviews the appearance of this type of disease between 1989 and 2003. In addition, it predicts what the situation between 2005 and 2020 will be.
