[Risk factors in insulin-dependent diabetes]

Abstract

The relative risks (RR) of the immunogenetic markers of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) have been calculated in a population of 235 IDDM patients compared with a control population. The highest relative risk was that of subjects heterozygous DR3/DR4 (RR = 47, P less than 0.001) which was still more increased in those who carry this combination associated with the RFLP cluster DQR4 (RR = 72). Further, a sample of 51 secondary affected siblings of IDD index cases has been compared with 265 non affected siblings (one child of each family, excluding index cases). The highest risks have been found in addition to DR3/DR4, for DR3 alone and particularly for the combination C4BQ0, DR3 (RR = 9, p less than 0.001) suggesting a role for this peculiar association in the familial penetrance. In the group of siblings HLA-identical with the index case, only two factors showed some capacity of discriminating between affected and non affected siblings: HLA-DR3 and age (less than or equal to 10 years old at onset of IDDM in the index case) (p less than 0.01). In the group of haploidentical siblings, the combination DR3/DR4 and the associations C4BQ0, DR3 and BfF1, DR3 significantly increased the susceptibility for higher familial occurrence of the disease. If confirmed by additional family series, this scale of risk factors could be helpful in predicting risk of IDDM to siblings of diabetic children.