[FAMILY, IMMIGRATION AND QUALITY OF TREATMENT: GENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ON COMPLICATIONS IN DIABETES].

BACKGROUND

There is a variety of native and foreign-born diabetes patients from all over the world in Israel. A combination of genetic and acquired factors leads to high-rate spreading of diabetes mellitus. Consequently, certain differences exist in a number of features of the disease typical for Israeli-born patients and for immigrants.

METHODS

This retrospective research has been conducted within a population of diabetes patients aged over 40 years in a group of immigrant and a group of Israeli-born patients (119 immigrants and 65 Israeli-born patients). Parameters checked were: background diseases, family history, types of treatment, risk factors and complications.

RESULTS

In the group of immigrants, the percentage of male patients with negative family history was much higher than the percentage of male patients with positive family history of diabetes mellitus (16.8% vs. 6.5% respectively). Relating immigrants with positive family history, micro-vascular complications were 3 times more prevalent than macro-vascular complications (30.3% vs. 9.2% respectively). In the group of Israeli-born patients there was a significant difference in the level of micro- and macro-vascular complications among the patients with positive and negative family history (32% vs. 12.3% for macro-vascular and 27.7 vs. 10.8% for micro-vascular complications).

CONCLUSIONS

(1) The percentage of males suffering from diabetes mellitus with negative family history is much higher than that with positive family history (16.8% vs. 6.5%); (2) The level of micro-vascular complications among immigrants with positive family history is 3.3 times higher than the level of macro-vascular complications among immigrants with positive family history of diabetes mellitus (30.3% vs. 9.2%).