INVESTIGATIONS OF GENETICS OF DIABETES MELLITUS . A SUITABLE METHOD FOR AGE CORRECTION

A method for age correction, first described by Strömgren, and which can be applied to genetic investigations of diseases with varying age of onset, has been applied to an investigation of the genetics of diabetes mellitus. The main advantage compared with the often used method of excess morbidity" is the fact that no investigation of control groups is necessary. It was found that the frequency of juvenile-onset diabetes among the siblings of juvenile-onset diabetics was about 25 times higher than that among the siblings of growth-onset diabetics. It must be concluded that there is genetic heterogeneity between juvenile and growth-onset diabetes. No significant difference could be found between the frequency of diabetes among siblings and that among the children of growthonset diabetics. This observation speaks in favour of preponderantly dominant inheritance of this type of diabetes. © 1969 Springer-Verlag."