What's Behind the Rise of Diabetes in Young Children in Philadelphia?

Cities has written before about the growing body of evidence connecting the shape of communities with the health of people who live there, particularly when it comes to explaining the rising epidemic of diabetes. Neighborhoods that enable more active lifestyles – i.e., walkable ones – have in some cases been linked to lower rates of the disease. But in that context we are typically talking about Type 2 diabetes, the kind that often results from lifestyle factors like poor diet and lack of exercise.

A new study out of Philadelphia further complicates this picture for urban public health officials. Researchers there have recorded a startling increase in Type 1 diabetes among children younger than 5. And in these cases, the built environment doesn’t readily appear to explain much at all. In the span of 20 years, from 1985 to 2004, the researchers found that the incidence of Type 1 diabetes had increased by 70 percent in these youngest children.