Arteriosclerosis in Japanese Diabetics

Abstract

The incidence of cardiovascular complications of diabetes mellitus was studied for four groups as defined based on blood glucose level, a) advanced diabetes (525 cases), b) mild (318 cases), c) borderline (362 cases) and d) normal (313 subjects).
The association with hypertension was much more frequent in diabetic groups than in a normal group, the incidence increasing as blood glucose level elevated.
It was found that the rate of retinal arteriosclerosis on SCHEIE's classification was highest in advanced rgoup patient, as well as in the hypertensive and aged.
This finding was likewise reflected in proteinuria. Abnormalities in PSP test and renal clearance test seemed to be less dependent on disturbed carbohydrate metabolism than hypertension and aging. Hypertension was responsible but not elevated blood sugar level for abnormal ECG.
In Japanese diabetics, unlike Western-type diabetics, hypertension and proteinuria were closely associated, and hypertension and aging seemed to have more influence than diabetes itself on the development of arteriosclerotic changes in the heart, the kidney and the retina.