Phelps G, Chapman I, Hall P, Braund W, Mackinnon M
Department of Medicine, Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, South Australia.
Lancet. 1989 Jul 29;2(8657):233-4. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(89)90426-1.
Since diabetes mellitus is a frequent manifestation of haemochromatosis the prevalence of the disease was investigated in 418 patients attending a diabetic clinic. 21 (5%) patients had a persistently high serum ferritin (men, over 400 micrograms/l; women, over 300 micrograms/l) and 5 of these had transferrin saturations consistently over 55%. Idiopathic haemochromatosis was confirmed by liver biopsy in 4 patients, all of whom had a hepatic iron index greater than 2.0. The prevalence rate of previously unrecognised idiopathic haemochromatosis was thus 9.6 per 1000 (general population prevalence 1 in 250), suggesting that screening of diabetic patients for this genetic disease may be more cost-effective than screening in the general population.
