[Role of environmental factors in the development of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) in Venezuelan children].

In view of the controversy surrounding the role of environmental factors, such as the presence of bovine albumin in milk, or viral infections, in the etiology of IDDM, a study was undertaken to determine the relationship between these events and the subsequent risk of developing IDDM. On 40 venezuelan diabetic children (< 18 y) and forty, age, sex and race-matched controls were studied at the same time. Parents of children completed a questionnaire on the infant's feeding habits, its environment and family history. The X2 method and the Fischer's exact test were used to analyze the results. We found that 20% of the controls, and 10% of IDDM (NS), were never breast-fed. In 95% of controls vs 65% of IDDM (p < 0.001), cow's milk was given exclusively from birth, or combined with breast-feeding, 65% of IDDM and 60% of controls (NS) were breast-fed (alone or combined with milk substitutes) for more than three months. These results do not support the hypothesis that early exposure to breast milk substitutes increases the risk of IDDM in venezuelan children. The study revealed, however, that a family history of diabetes mellitus was present in 55% of IDDM vs 30% of controls (p < 0.05) and mumps infection before the onset of diabetes was recorded in 42.5% of IDDM in comparison with 12.5% of controls (p = 0.005). Other viral infections (rubella, chicken pox) had no statistical significance. The latter results suggest an association between a family history of diabetes mellitus and viral infections with the development of IDDM among this group of children.