MONDAY, Sept. 25, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Diagnosis of type 1 diabetes often occurs after age 30 years, more so in men and racial/ethnic minorities, according to a research letter published online Sept. 26 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Michael Fang, Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, and colleagues characterized the age distribution of type 1 diabetes diagnosis in the United States using data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Data were included from 947 adults with type 1 diabetes in NHIS cycles from 2016 to 2022, representing about 1.3 million U.S. adults.

The researchers found that the distribution of age at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes was right-skewed, reaching a peak around 15 years of age. The median age at diagnosis was 24 years, with later diagnosis for men than women (median, 27 versus 22 years) and for racial/ethnic minorities versus non-Hispanic White adults (median, 26 to 30 years versus 21 years). Diagnosis after age 30 years occurred in 37 percent of participants, with higher rates seen for men and for racial/ethnic minorities.

“The onset of type 1 diabetes during adulthood is common, particularly in men and racial/ethnic minority patients,” the authors write. “Tools integrating clinical measures and biomarkers may improve the accuracy of diagnosis for these patients.”

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