Signs of beta-cell autoimmunity in nondiabetic schoolchildren: a comparison between Russian Karelia with a low incidence of type 1 diabetes and Finland with a high incidence rate.

Objective: We sought to study the prevalence of autoantibodies to various islet cell antigens in the background population of two neighboring countries with a sixfold difference in the incidence of type 1 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: Serum samples were obtained from 3,652 nondiabetic schoolchildren in Finland and from 1,988 schoolchildren in the adjacent Karelian Republic of Russia. The Karelian children were divided into three groups (Finns/Karelians, Russians, and others) based on the ethnic background of their mother.

A six-fold gradient in the incidence of type 1 diabetes at the eastern border of Finland.

Objective: Type 1 diabetes results from gene-environment interactions in subjects with genetic susceptibility to the disease. We assessed the contribution of environmental and genetic factors to type 1 diabetes by comparing the incidence in two neighboring populations living in conspicuously different socioeconomic circumstances.

Research Design And Methods: We compared the incidence over a 10-year period (1990-99) in children younger than 15 years of age living in the Karelian Republic of Russia and in Finland.

Relationship between the incidence of type 1 diabetes and enterovirus infections in different European populations: results from the EPIVIR project.

The incidence of type 1 diabetes varies markedly between countries. As enterovirus infections have been linked to type 1 diabetes, we determined whether this variation correlates with the frequency of enterovirus infections in different Caucasian populations in Europe. Enterovirus antibodies were examined in the background population (1-year-old and 10-14-year-old children) in seven countries with either exceptionally high (Finland and Sweden) or low/intermediate incidence of diabetes (Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Russia) using EIA and neutralisation assays.