A population survey of pancreatic islet cell antibodies

A population study on pancreatic islet cell antibodies (pica) among 3766 people from the town of Busselton, Western Australia showed that such antibodies were infrequent, the 'classical' insulin-dependent diabetes associated islet cell antibody being present in less than 0.01%. Pancreatic islet cell antibodies in this population were not associated with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, and ten known insulin-dependent diabetics did not have these antibodies. These results for an unselected population are in sharp contrast with those derived from studies on highly selected hospital patients.