Demographic Characteristics of Type 1 Diabetic Children and Adolescents in Hamadan, Iran.

BACKGROUND Type 1 diabetes mellitus is the most common endocrine disease in pediatric. We aimed to determine the demographic characteristics at presentation of childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus in Hamadan, west province of Iran. METHODS In this cross sectional descriptive study, demographic data of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus being followed up in Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic of Besat Hospital Hamedan Iran, were analyzed. A detailed record of the required information including the age, sex, Place of living(urban, rural), season, disease presentation, parental consanguinity (1st cousin relation),The mean mother's age at delivery, BMI ,birth seasonality and birth order were collected. The data was analyzed by standard statistical package SPSS, version 15.0. Results with p-value less than 0.05 were defined as statistically significant. RESULTS In total, 150 patients (85 boys) were included. The mean age at diagnosis was 8.47 (ranged from 2 months to 17.5 years). The peak age of presentation was 5.0 to 9.9 years. The overall male-to-female ratio of patients was similar. The majority of patients (81.3%) were urban. the frequency of disease was higher in summer (34%). BMI of 85.73% of cases was between 5th to 85th BMI percentiles. The frequency of a family history of type 1diabetes in first and second degree relatives was 10.7%. Among the studied patients, 18.7% had parental consanguinity. The mean mother's age at delivery of patients was 25.19 years. Of the studied patients, 82.7% were exclusively breastfeed during the first 6 months of life and 43% were the first child of family. About 13.33% had co -occurring endocrine disease. CONCLUSIONS This study showed that age at diagnosis and sex of our patients was similar to the world reported. But, seasonal variation is different in our region. The frequency of a family history of type 1 diabetes in first and second degree relatives was relatively high. Hypothyroidism was the most frequently observed co-occurring endocrine disease.