Prevalence of type 1 diabetes mellitus in Saudi Arabian children and adolescents.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of type 1 diabetes mellitus among 0-19 years old Saudi children and adolescents.

Methods: A nationwide Saudi Arabian project was conducted in the years 2001-2007 with the objective of establishing national growth charts, and defining the prevalence of some chronic childhood diseases such as diabetes mellitus. The 14,000 households were randomly selected based on a recent population statistic.