Development of a registry for diabetes in persons 0-19 years of age in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Abstract

A juvenile-onset diabetes registry was recently established in the United States Virgin Islands. Hospital and clinic records were used as the primary sources of case data, while data procured through a physician survey and mass media campaign were used to assess the comppleteness and validity of the registry listings. The data indicated that 39 people 0-19 years old developed diabetes during the study period (1 January 1979-31 December 1988), of whom 36 probably had Type 1 diabetes. Completeness of the primary source data was estimated at 92.3 percent and validity seemed very good (around 100 percent). Evaluation of these registry data has provided new insights into the epidemiology of Type 1 diabetes in the U.S. Virgin Island