Juvenile diabetes mellitus after forty years.

Seventy-three patients with juvenile diabetes mellitus for a mean duration of 42.9 years were retrospectively studied on a multidisciplinary basis. Only three of this group of patients were socially disabled as a result of their long-standing illness. Of all the complications, insulin-induced hypoglycemia was most common. Although diabetic retinopathy was clinically evident in about 75 per cent of patients, only 50 per cent of these seventy-three patients had a significant visual impairment. Nephropathy was apparent in 59 per cent of patients, and neuropathy was demonstrable in half of them. Significant peripheral vascular system impairment was present in 40 per cent and major cardiac complication in 20 percent.