National Diabetes Surveillance: The Challenge of Differentiating Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

s / Can J Diabetes 37 (2013) S6eS11 S11 immigration records for 592376 immigrants to Ontario, Canada. We used Cox-Proportional Hazard models to generate adjusted incidence rates by ethnicity, sex and age and to determine the age cutoffs at which different ethnicities experienced equivalent risk of developing diabetes. Findings: South Asians had the highest overall incidence rate (agesex adjusted rate of 15.7 per 1000 person years), which was 3.3 times higher than in Western Europeans (p<0.05). The risk for developing diabetes among 40to 44-year-old Western European men (3.7 per 1000 person years) was roughly equivalent to the risk experienced by South Asianmen andwomen at age 25. For all other non-European ethnic groups, the equivalent risk was experienced between age 30 and 35. Forwomen ofWestern European origin, the diabetes risk at age 40 to 44 (1.7 per 1000 person years) was lower than observed at any age in South Asian women. These risk differentials persisted despite controlling for income, education, immigration category and time in Canada. Interpretation: High-risk ethnic groups display a similar level of diabetes risk between 10 and 15 years younger than individuals of Western European origin. This has practical implications for primary and secondary prevention efforts.