EPIDEMIOLOGIC ANALYSIS OF DIABETIC-PATIENTS ON CHRONIC DIALYSIS

We retrospectively surveyed all of the available medical records of 40 4 (191 females and 213 males) chronic dialysis patients, of whom 16 (4 %) had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and 388 (96%) non-in sulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). The patients were among 2,2 14 dialysis patients in Okinawa, Japan, of whom 443 were diabetic. The patients entered a large population-based dialysis registry. The mean duration from the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus (DM) to dialysis was 181.6 months in the IDDM patients and 150.4 months in the NIDDM patie nts. The NIDDM patients were classified into four subgroups according to their status when DM was first suspected. The duration from the dia gnosis of DM until the onset of dialysis treatment was significantly s horter than in any other subgroup or in the IDDM subgroup with major v ascular disease (131.9 months). Otherwise, the course of renal disease in NIDDM patients was similar to that in IDDM individuals. Most of ou r dialysis patients with DM had NIDDM. In most of the NIDDM patients, the diagnosis had been delayed for several years for unknown reason. H owever, if diagnosed early, NIDDM shows a clinical time course until d ialysis similar to that of IDDM. Whether NIDDM patients contract chron ic renal disease at an equal incidence to that of IDDM patients and th e fraction of all diabetic patients accepted for chronic dialysis rema in to be determined.