The World Health Organization has been gathering information on diabetes for more than 20 years.  Its findings show that diabetes is second only to asthma as the most common chronic childhood disease.  New research shows a racial divide when it comes to what type of diabetes a child is most likely to get.  VOA's Carol Pearson has more.

Doctors diagnose about 15,000 children annually with type one diabetes

Compare this to fewer than 4,000 American children and teens diagnosed with type 2 diabetes each year.   With type 2 diabetes, the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin that is produced.

Thirteen-year-old Sierra Horecky has type 1 diabetes. She was diagnosed almost three years ago after she fell into a coma. 

"I was really surprised, and I guess I was kinda mad,” says Horecky.  “I was, like, 'Why me?' I guess."

Dr. Dana Dabelea

"We found that type 1 diabetes is very, very common in all racial (and) ethnic groups, but especially in white kids," says Dabelea.

She says Caucasian children in general have a higher risk of developing type 1 diabetes than children of other races. And, while race may be a factor in Sierra's illness, the cause is still a mystery.

"For type 1 diabetes, unfortunately, there is no current prevention because, unfortunately, we do not know what causes type 1 diabetes yet," adds Dabelea.

Researchers suspect that the increasing rates of childhood obesity may be driving up the frequency of both type one and type two diabetes in children and teenagers.

"Type 2 diabetes used to be called adult onset diabetes, and did not used to occur in children.  However, we are now seeing type 2 diabetes at younger and younger ages."

Researchers found that babies whose mothers have diabetes are more likely to become obese. They suspect the increasing rates of childhood obesity may be driving up the frequency of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in children and teenagers.

Dr. Dabelea participated in a nationwide research group on diabetes.  The study has been published in the Journal of the America Medical Association.