Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common severe chronic diseases of childhood. However, epidemiological data for temporal trends in childhood diabetes (both type 1 and type 2 diabetes) are limited in the U.S. with the exception of SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth, no comprehensive population-based studies of diabetes according to type in young people of diverse racial or ethnic backgrounds exist. SEARCH is a multi-center and an epidemiological study conducted in six geographically dispersed Study Centers that encompass the racial and ethnic diversity of the U.S. In response to RFA-DP10-001, Component A, we propose the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Registry Study. The project proposes 1) to continue to ascertain newly diagnosed (2010-2014) incident diabetes cases in youth age <20 years in order to assess temporal trends in diabetes incidence and temporal trends in presentation of diabetes for the period 2002-2014, by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and diabetes type;and 2) to provide consultation and support to inform the development of low-cost sustainable public health surveillance systems of childhood diabetes in the U.S. The population under surveillance at the Colorado SEARCH Center consists of all youth ages <20 years a) residing in the state of Colorado (63 counties), and b) members of the Navajo Nation American Indian population in Arizona and New Mexico, who participated in SEARCH 1 and 2. Our Center is the largest SEARCH site with over 3000 incident cases registered to date (30% of all SEARCH registered cases) that will inform the analysis of trends in incidence of diabetes in youth. This project builds on the multi-center standardized data collection effort, the experienced investigator team, and the local case ascertainment infrastructure developed by SEARCH-Colorado Center.
SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Registry Study is a unique resource that will allow tracking of long-term temporal trends in the incidence of childhood diabetes, providing potential clues to etiology, and allowing the determination of changes in clinical presentation, patterns of treatment, access to care, and quality of care of youth with diabetes. As an efficient network of diabetes registries covering major race/ethnic, geographic, and socioeconomic segments of the U.S. population, the SEARCH Registry Study can be utilized to provide national estimates of prevalence, incidence, presentation, temporal trends, and other important outcomes. It is imperative that efforts directed at surveillance of diabetes and its complications in young people continue and expand, not only to understand its complex etiology, but also because of its increasing public health importance.
