Diabetes death rates higher in black youths
In the United States, diabetes affects 18 per 10,000 children and adolescents younger than age 20. CDC investigators analyzed deaths between 1979 and 2004 with an underlying cause of diabetes among US children and teens 1 to 19 years old.
“Although diabetes deaths among youths were rare during 1979-2004, numbering less than an average of 80 per year for the entire period, diabetes death rates for black youths were consistently higher than those for white youths,” they report.
“Additionally, whereas diabetes mortality did not change substantially for white youths during 1994-2004, death rates for black youths increased significantly,” the investigators further report.
From 2003 to 2004, the annual average diabetes death rate per million youths was 2.46 for black youths compared with 0.91 for white youths.