Incidence and trend of type 1 diabetes and the underlying environmental determinants

Abstract

A wealth of epidemiological studies concerning the distribution of type 1 diabetes (T1D) around the world have pointed to the appreciable variation in the incidence of T1D among disparate age groups, ethnicities, and geographical locations. On the whole, the incidence of childhood T1D has been on the rise, and a plausible inverse relationship between the initial incidence rate and the following annual increase in incidence has been raised. Countries that used to exhibit lower incidences tend to have steep annual increase whereas those with already-established high incidences are more likely to show a modest increase or even stabilization in T1D incidence. Environmental agents considered responsible for the current evolving pattern of T1D incidence will be detailed, mainly including the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity, viral infections in a chronic manner, maternal-child interaction such as breastfeeding, and latitude-ultraviolet B-vitamin D pathway. Certain rationale has been put forward in an attempt to explain the potential association between environmental agents and development of T1D. For instance, accelerator hypothesis regards insulin resistance as the promoter of earlier disease onset in obese children whereas the negative correlation of microbial infections in background populations with incidence of T1D represents the basic component of the hygiene hypothesis. Further investigations are still warranted to verify these theories across multiple ethnic groups and to identify additional contributors to the variation in T1D incidence.

Keywords: breastfeeding; incidence; obesity; type 1 diabetes; viral infection; vitamin D.