Steroid diabetes after renal transplantation--a preliminary report.

The incidence of steroid diabetes mellitus was studied retrospectively in 84 renal transplant recipients with grafts which had functioned longer than 3 months. The observation time ranged between 3 and 36 months (mean 17 months). Overt diabetes necessitating treatment was found in 24 patients (29%). Another 14 patients had transient elevations in blood glucose. The incidence of steroid diabetes was found to correlate with increasing age and body weight and with the number of rejection episodes. In the majority of the patients with manifest diabetes it was diagnosed within three months after transplantation.