HLA and insulin dependent diabetes mellitus in Singaporean Chinese

Singaporean Chinese IDDM was significantly associated with AW33, BW58, DR3 and DR4. AW33, BW58 and DR3 being in strong linkage disequilibrium among the Chinese, were associated most strongly with IDDM whose onset was less than or equal to 10 years. The strength of this association showed a significant inverse relationship with age of onset. The frequency of DR4 was significantly elevated on in the 11-20 year IDDM group. The importance of DR3 in Chinese IDDM was also reflected in the observations of joint occurrences of DR antigens. In the less than or equal to 10 years subgroup, the significant association were either DR3/DRW9, DR3/DR4 or DR3/BLANK. In the 11-20 years subgroup, DR4 appeared to be more important and DR4/DR3 and DR4/BLANK were strongly associated with IDDM in this subgroup.