The study was done to assess whether there was a familial aggregation of di
abetic kidney disease (DKD) in Type 2 diabetic subjects. The profile of ass
ociated complications was also studied. Two groups of diabetic siblings of
Type 2 diabetic patients, matched for age, body mass index (BMI) and durati
on of diabetes mellitus were studied. The siblings also had Type 2 diabetes
. Group A comprised of siblings of probands with diabetic nephropathy and r
etinopathy (n=30, M:F=20:10) and Group B were siblings of probands without
diabetic nephropathy or microalbuminuria (MAU) (n = 30, M:F = 14:16). Anthr
opometry, measurement of blood pressure and tests for proteinuria, MAU and
retinopathy and ECG and biothesiometry were carried out for all study subje
cts. Persistent proteinuria was present in 15 (50%) siblings in group A and
none in group B. MAU was detected in 26.7% (n = 7) in Group A and 3.3% (n
= 1) in Group B (P = 0.057). Thus a total of 22 out of 30 cases in Group A
had albuminuria. In Group A, seven (23.3%) had proteinuria and hypertension
. Hypertension was present in nine (30.0%) in group A, and in five (16.7%)
in group B (NS). Occurrence of retinopathy was found to be significantly hi
gher in group A than in group B (33.3 vs 6.7%, chi(2) = 5.1, P = 0.023). Ab
normal ECG changes were present in 10% and 6.7% in Group A and Group B, res
pectively In Group A, one patient had peripheral vascular disease (PVD) whi
le in Group B none had PVD. A comparison of sib pairs, matched for age, dur
ation of diabetes and the level of metabolic control showed that there was
strong familial clustering of diabetic kidney disease in south Indians with
Type 2 diabetes. This was independent of the familial clustering of diabet
es. Prevalence of other vascular complications were also higher in Group A.
(C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.