Ireland has one of Europe's highest rates of type 1 diabetes, according to a 25-year study

According to a new study, Ireland has one of the highest rates of type 1 diabetes in Europe.

The 25-year study shows that cases of chronic disease are increasing by more than 3% per year in Europe.

Ireland is ranked 5th on the 22-continent table after Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Norway, with a slightly higher rate than Denmark.

The paper reveals that Scandinavian countries are well known for having high incidence rates of type 1 diabetes in children, but that the UK and Ireland are not far behind.

Type 1 diabetes, which is an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks pancreatic cells producing insulin, is usually diagnosed during childhood.

The most recent data from the Irish National Diabetes Registry show that the incidence of type 1 diabetes in children is 28.8 per 100,000 in 2013 – a slight increase over the year former.

The overall incidence is highest in the age group 10-14 in Ireland, with the average age of diagnosis being about eight years.

The incidence of chronic disease in children has increased significantly over the ten-year period from 1997 to 2008 during the Celtic Tiger period, but has now stabilized.

The incidence of the disease in childhood is highest in Europe, especially in northern Europe, but we do not know what causes it for life.

Finland has the highest incidence of type 1 diabetes in the world, with a peak of 64.9 per 100,000 in 2006, while the lowest incidence was in Asia.

New research published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, shows that new cases of type 1 diabetes are increasing by 3.4% per year in Europe.

The authors say, "The increasing number of children diagnosed with this chronic disease, coupled with a well-documented and continuing increase in morbidity and mortality, has important implications for those who plan and deliver health care.

"Limited success in identifying environmental causes or gene-environment interactions that could eventually lead to disease prevention means that efforts must continue to improve the quality of care to reduce long-term complications and deaths related to diabetes. "

The authors warn that if this trend continues, the rate of this disease would double over the next 20 years.

The study led by Professor Chris Patterson of Queen's University Belfast, revealed that the incidence of the disease was increasing almost universally.

Rates of increase were higher for boys than for girls in the 10-14 age group.

The findings are based on the badysis of more than 84,000 children registered in 22 European countries over a 25-year period from 1989 to 2013.

Incidence rates continue to increase in all age groups in most countries, with no clear signs of stabilization.

The authors said that improving blood glucose control was the key to improving the quality of care.

They said. "This will be achieved not only by more sophisticated methods of insulin delivery, but also through increased investment in services to support well-trained and dedicated care teams in sufficient numbers to meet the growing needs." of this group of children and their families. "

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