[Possible existence of retinal vascular disease in relatives of diabetic patients and its metabolic correlation]

The authors studied the possible presence of retinal vasculopathy in 31 patients with a diabetic father or mother. In 12 of them (38.7 per cent of the total number of patients) some degree of alteration in the glycemia curve and increased insulinemia were observed. Neither of these anomalies were related to sex of patients. Opthalmologic examination revealed diabetic retinopathy in 6.45 per cent of the patients, and the disease was only present in female patients. Among the 8 patients with diabetic glycemia curve (25.8 per cent of the total), only one (12.5 per cent of the diabetic patients, and 0.31 of the total) hand diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy was not observed in any of the 4 non-diabetic patients with glucose load intolerance. I phase diabetic retinopathy was found in one subject (0.31 per cent of the total) with normal glucose and insulin tolerance.