[Diabetes mellitus and development of kidney insufficiency]

With respect to the great number of diabetics in our population and the development of renal insufficiency as a fatal complication at diabetic patients (15-25% of chronic haemodialysis patients suffer from diabetes mellitus) we examined diabetics of a rural district. We registered a total of 1164 diabetics: 690 of them showed normal renal function while 405 patients had serum creatinine in threshold values and 69 patients' serum creatinines exceeded 120 mumol/l. The age of onset and the duration of diabetes mellitus, its type and the metabolic control, furthermore symptoms of proteinuria, hypertension, obesity and retinopathy were registered in relation to renal function. The duration of diabetes, the metabolic control, proteinuria turned out to be prognostically important factors.