Diabetes, Vol 24, Issue 6 559-565, Copyright © 1975 by American Diabetes Association
Juvenile diabetes mellitus after forty years
AT Paz-Guevara, TH Hsu and P White
Seventy-three patients with juvenile diabetes mellitus for a mean duration
of 42.9 years were retrospectively studied on a multidisciplinary basis.
Only three of this group of patients were socially disabled as a result of
their long-standing illness. Of all the complications, insulin-induced
hypoglycemia was most common. Although diabetic retinopathy was clinically
evident in about 75 per cent of patients, only 50 per cent of these
seventy-three patients had a significant visual impairment. Nephropathy was
apparent in 59 per cent of patients, and neuropathy was demonstrable in
half of them. Significant peripheral vascular system impairment was present
in 40 per cent and major cardiac complication in 20 percent.