Genetic heterogeneity in diabetes mellitus and diabetic microangiopathy.

Diabetes mellitus is a heterogeneous group of disorders associated with glucose intolerance. It appears that the prevalence and severity of diabetic microangiopathy differs between the different diabetic syndromes, but the extent of this heterogeneity and the cause and degree of the angiopathic differences is still unknown. Since glucose intolerance can be produced by a large number of different etiologic factors and pathogenetic mechanisms, it is not inconceivable that diabetic microangiopathy could also be due to a number of different factors. Delineation of the extent of the genetic heterogeneity in diabetes, the relationship between the pathogenesis of the glucose intolerance and the microangiopathy, and the prevalence and severity of the microangiopathy in each of the diabetic syndromes will have profound implications on the prognosis and therapy of each individual diabetic patient.