Absence of islet cell autoantibodies in Jamaican Blacks with diabetes mellitus

ABSTRACT

Forty-two patients, mainly of Black ancestry, attending the Diabetic Clinic, University Hospital of the West Indies, were studied for the frequency of autoantibodies against pancreatic islet cells (ICA), thyroid microsomes (TMA) and gastric parietal cells (PCA). There were 24 men and 18 women with an age range of 6-77 years and a mean age of 56.3 ñ 16.5 years. They had had diabetes for periods ranging from 1 to 40 years with a mean duration of 12.3 yearsñ 7.9 years. Sixty per cent had had insulin therapy for periods ranging from 0.25 to 25 years with a mean duration of 7.6 ñ 6.4 years. The mean body mass index was 24.0 ñ 2 with a range of 16.5 - 32.1. No patient had ICA. Of the insulin-treated patients, 17 percent were TMA positive. No patient had both TMA and PCA positivity. Amongst black populations, there is less evidence for autoimmune pathogenesis of insulin-requiring diabetes. The results suggest geographic as well as racial heterogeneity for black populations with diabetes, and emphasize the limitations of Caucasian Euro-American classifications of the disease, (AU)