Summary

This report presents the latest results on new cases (the incidence) of Type 1 diabetes in Australia based on data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s National
Diabetes Register (NDR). This is the first time that results from the NDR on Type 1 diabetes in people aged over 40 years have been published.

Results for the period 2000–2006 on the incidence of Type 1 diabetes in children aged 0–14 years show that:

  • Australia’s average annual rate (22 per 100,000 population) is high when compared with available data from other countries.
  • There were over 6,000 new cases, which equates to more than 2 new cases each day.
  • The rate is increasing in Australia at almost 3% per year. The age-adjusted rate increased significantly from 19 per 100,000 to 23 per 100,000 over the period.
  • The average annual rate peaked in children aged 10–14 years at 29 per 100,000, which was twice as high as the rates for children aged 0–4 years.

Type 1 diabetes does not only develop in childhood but can arise at any age. Over the period 2000–2006:

  • There were almost 9,000 new cases in people aged 15 years or over which equates to around 3 new cases per day.
  • Among this age group the incidence rate was highest for 15–24 year olds (15 per 100,000) and lowest for people aged 40 years or over (5 per 100,000).
  • Males aged 15 years or over were almost twice as likely as females of the same age to develop Type 1 diabetes.