V. Mohan et al., ANTIBODIES TO PANCREATIC-ISLET CELL ANTIGENS IN DIABETES SEEN IN SOUTHERN INDIA WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO FIBROCALCULOUS PANCREATIC DIABETES, Diabetic medicine, 15(2), 1998, pp. 156-159
Fibrocalculous pancreatic diabetes (FCPD) is a type of diabetes second
ary to tropical chronic non-alcoholic pancreatitis. Little is known ab
out the aetiopathogenesis of FCPD. We studied glutamic acid decarboxyl
ase antibodies (GAD-Ab) and islet cell antibodies (ICA) in patients wi
th FCPD and compared the results with Type 1 (insulin dependent) diabe
tes mellitus, Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus and non
-diabetic subjects in Southern India. The prevalence of GAD-Ab was 7.0
% (95 % Confidence Interval (CI) 1.9-17.2) in FCPD, 47.5 % (CI 31.4-6
4.0) in Type 1 (p < 0.001 compared to FCPD), 5.6 % (CI 1.5-13.9) in Ty
pe 2 (non-significant (NS) compared to FCPD) and 0 % in controls. The
prevalence of ICA was 6.3 % (CI 1.2-17.4) in FCPD, 53.8 % (CI 37.1-70.
0) in Type 1 (p < 0.001 compared to FCPD), 9.9 % (CI 4.0-19.4) in Type
2 (NS compared to FCPD) and 4.7 % (CI 0.4-16.1) in controls. The data
suggest that in FCPD, the frequency of auto-antibodies is low and its
aetiology is probably not linked to autoimmunity in the majority of t
he patients. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.