Background and objectives: Primary focus of the research was to determine
the incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus in the period from 2017 to 2022, and
whether COVID-19 had an impact on the increase in the number of newly
diagnosed children with diabetes type 1 under the age of 15 in the Republic of
Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina). In the period 2001–2016 the incidence of type
1 diabetes mellitus was 11/100,000, with an annual increasing rate of 14.2%.
Methods: Available data from pediatric endocrinology clinics, in the Republic of
Srpska, on the number of newly diagnosed patients with diabetes mellitus in the
period from January 1, 2017 until December 31, 2022 were used. A retrospective
analysis was performed, and the capture-recapture method was used for the final
assessment, and the obtained result corresponds to about 99% of the population.
Results: The total number of children in the group of 0–14 years of age diagnosed
with type 1 diabetes mellitus in this period was 183, of which 96 (52.46%) were
boys, and 87 (47.54%) were girls. The average age at which diabetes mellitus
was diagnosed was 8.3 ± 3.9 years. Average incidence of diabetes in the period
2017–2022 was 19/100,000 (95% CI 13.1–25.0). The highest incidence was
28.7/100,000 in 2020, the first year of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Out of
a total of 183 newly diagnosed cases in the period 2017–2022, 73 (39.9%) were
diagnosed with ketoacidosis upon admission. The largest number of newly
diagnosed children was recorded in the group of children aged 10–14 years.
Conclusion: In the last 6 years, there has been a significant increase in the
incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus in children under the age of 15. With an
incidence of 19.4/100,000 in the Republic of Srpska, we entered the group of
countries with high-risk for diabetes. Further steps must focus on the education
of the entire society in order to recognize the symptoms of the disease in time
and prevent the occurrence of ketoacidosis, which could significantly reduce the
burden on health systems, especially in times of global pandemics, such as the
COVID-19 pandemic.
