Renal failure in diabetes: a substantive problem in provision of health care

Approximately 5.8 million people in the United States have been diagnosed by a physician as being diabetic, and an additional 4 to 5 million people have undiagnosed diabetes. Although the incidence of diabetes appears to be declining from a peak of 300 per 100,000 population in 1973, to 230 per 100,000 in 1981, its prevalence continues to rise, due to a 19 percent decline since 1970 in deaths caused by diabetes. In 1982, 34, 583 deaths were attributed to diabetes, resulting in diabetes being ranked as the seventh leading underlying cause of death. Medical and surgical complications of diabetes due to macro- and microvascular disease result in 5,800 new cases of blindness, 4,500 perinatal deaths, 40,000 lower extremity amputations and 3,000 deaths due to diabetic coma (ketotic and hyperosmolar) and at least 4,000 new cases of end-stage renal disease. Hyperglycemia is a major if not sole determinant of diabetic glomerulopathy. The exact mechanism underlying diabetic vasculopathy is under intensive study. Experiments in the induced-diabetic rat and dog suggest that small vessel injury may--under defined circumstances--be associated with the polyol (sorbitol) pathway of glucose metabolism, myoinositol deficiency, capillary hypertension, plasma hyperviscosity, stiff erythrocytes, elevated circulating thromboxane, and platelet-derived growth factor(s). As yet, no single hypothesis fits these seemingly disparate pieces together into a unified formulation of the genesis of diabetic complications. Clinical experience sustains the contention that a functioning kidney transplant proffers the uremic diabetic younger than age 60 a higher probability for survival with good rehabilitation than does either peritoneal dialysis or maintenance hemodialysis. Diabetics treated by kidney transplantation require more than the routine preoperative and postoperative attention afforded to nondiabetic ESRD patients. During initial nephrologic evaluation, concurrent extrarenal vascular disease--especially ophthalmic, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and in the extremities, often demands immediate attention. Inventory of co-morbid risk factors pre-transplant facilitates their management post-transplant, thereby improving chances for rehabilitation. Consultations with an ophthalmologist and podiatrist familiar with management of the uremic diabetic should be obtained prior to transplant surgery. When performed as a component of pre-transplant evaluation, coronary angiography permits identification and correction, in many patients, of potentially fatal coronary artery disease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)