SURVEY OF A SCOTTISH DIABETIC CLINIC A STUDY OF THE ETIOLOGY OF DIABETES MELLITUS

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Abstract
In a group of 1309 diabetics attending a Scottish hospital, the sex incidence was 2.26 females to every male. Up to the age of 40, diabetes affected the sexes equally. After this age, female diabetics were much more frequent because of a high incidence of the disease in married women. This high incidence was at least partly related to previous childbearing. Men developing diabetes after 40 and women developing diabetes after age 20 had a greater avg. wt. than a control population. From 30 yrs. onwards, diabetic women had a higher avg. blood pressure than the control subjects: the blood pressure of male diabetics was not significantly raised. A family history of diabetes was obtained from 23.2% of patients. Diabetics with obesity or hypertension gave positive family histories as frequently as other diabetics, but among middle-aged diabetic women, those with large families gave a lower frequency of positive family histories. Thyrotoxicosis was present in 1% of patients and sepsis was associated with the onset of diabetes in 6%. It is concluded that diabetes is probably due to (i) a hereditary factor present in most cases, and (ii) factors increasing the susceptibility of persons predisposed to diabetes by the hereditary factor (obesity; childbearing; minor factors such as thyrotoxicosis, acromegaly and sepsis).

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