1989 Volume 32 Issue 1 Pages 9-19
A cross-sectional study of three major complications of diabetes mellitus, i.e., diabetic neuropathy, retinopathy and nephropathy, was performed on 10, 569 patients, at 235 institutions throughout Japan The incidence of simple retinopathy was found to be significantly higher in females than males, whereas there were no sex difference in neuropathy or postitive proteinuria. The incidence of the three major complications was found to increase significantly in proportion to age at the time of the survey, whereas the incidence of simple and proliferative retinopathy was higher in patients who had developed diabetes at younger ages. All 3 diabetic complications occured more frequently in patients undergoing insulin therapy and in poorly controlled patients than in patients on diet therapy or under good control.
We also studied the regional incidence of these complications of diabetes. Retinopathy was found to be more frequent in the Tohoku and Kyushu districts, nephropathy in Hokkaido, and neuropathy in the Tohoku, Chubu, Kinki and Kyoshu districts. All three major complications were found to occur more frequently in regions on the Japan Sea side than on the Pacific Ocean side of Japan
