Lindex #0061

Joslin EP, Dublin LI, Marks HH

Studies in Diabetes Mellitus. IV. Etiology. Part 2.

American Journal of Medical Sciences

1936; 192:9-23

The purpose of this phase of the study was to determine if there was a correlation between height, maximum weight prior to diabetes for juvenile and adult-onset diabetes, selected endocrine abnormalities, gall bladder and pancreatic disease and arteriosclerosis with various variables associated with diabetic state (age of onset, gender of patient and Jewish ethnicity). The patient population was described in Joslin, Dublin and Marks (1937). Juvenile diabetics tend to be unusually tall, while adult onset patients are characterized by normal height and obesity at the time of disease onset. Adult Jewish patients were even more obese than other patients at disease onset. 86.8 percent adult Jewish males and 94.3 percent adult Jewish females were overweight when the disease was first diagnosed. On the other hand, 78.5 percent adult non-Jewish males and 83.3 percent non- Jewish females were overweight at first diagnosis. The criteria for obesity was a weight in excess of 5 percent or more body weight for patient's height when compared with actuarial tables from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. This tendency toward excessive obesity, at time of onset, was even more pronounced in Jewish women who were at least 20 percent overweight (77 percent vs. 59.3 percent for non-Jewish females). The authors stated that the greater frequency of obese Jews at age of onset was evident at every age, particularly in patients between the ages of 20 and 45. Data were not presented to confirm these conclusions.