Wyoming needs a way to track incidences of childhood diabetes, supporters of a bill to create such a registry said Monday.

The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee unanimously voted for House Bill 60 , but not until after some members expressed concerns about additional paperwork the bill would require for doctors and state officials, and issues of confidentiality.

HB 60 would create a pediatrics diabetes tracking system, require the Wyoming Department of Health to establish and maintain a database on Type I and Type II diabetes in children through reporting by doctors, and would provide for confidentiality.

While the bill does not modify any agency budget or personnel, it may affect the administration of the Department of Health.

Rep. Floyd Esquibel, D-Cheyenne, introduced the bill to the committee.

Linda Chasson of the Health Department's Wyoming Diabetes Prevention and Control Program explained the need for such a registry. Current tracking of diabetes is done only for adults, she said.

Beverly Morrow, a lobbyist for the Wyoming Primary Care Association, said that diabetes tops the list of outpatient visits at clinics on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Buck McVeigh, a parent of a 6-year-old child with Type I diabetes, said that Wyoming spends $187 million a year for treating the disease, which is the result of the pancreas' inability to make insulin and process sugar.

"You or a family member don't have to have it," McVeigh said. "We're all paying for it."

According to literature from McVeigh, 1 million people in the U.S. have Type I diabetes where a person's pancreas produces little or no insulin and victims must take insulin to live; and 16 million people have Type II diabetes, which is often the result of obesity. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, adult blindness, non-traumatic amputations, and a leading cause of nerve damage, stroke and heart attacks.

The state has no benchmark to determine the scope of the disease, but a database would help funding of clinics in the future, he said.

The prospect of more paperwork for doctors bothered Rep. George McMurtrey, R-Rozet, who also is a physician.

Wyoming Medical Society lobbyist Wendy Curran agreed. "There are some concerns about reporting from physicians, and what it will be used for."