Vascular disease in South African Bantu diabetics

Abstract

The prevalence of vascular disease was studied in 2 groups of maturity-onset South African Bantu diabetics: a) 50 new cases and b) 62 old patients whose mean duration of disease was 7 years. All the subjects were city-dwellers of long standing, in whom obesity, hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia were common. Diabetic retinopathy was present in 11% of the new and 45% of the old patients; the corresponding figures for proteinuria were 8% and 29%. By contrast, not a single subject in either group was found to have evidence of myocardial infarction, and only 8% of the new and 6% of the old diabetics had myocardial ischaemia. © 1966 Springer-Verlag.