A search for malnutrition-related diabetes mellitus among Ethiopian patients.

OBJECTIVE

To search for evidence of MRDM among Ethiopian patients.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We reviewed the records from March 1976 to January 1991 of 1835 Ethiopian diabetic patients registered consecutively in the Diabetic Clinic of Yekatit 12 Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

RESULTS

Of those aged 15-30 at onset, 41.3% had a BMI < 19 kg/m2 at diagnosis, and 55% of the latter had a history of normal weight before the onset of symptoms. The frequency of KA was similar in the very thin patients and others of the same age-group, and only 1 patient required > 1.5 IU insulin in 24 h. Pancreatic calcification was observed in only 4 middle-aged men with histories of alcohol abuse, and the very thin patients did not have other stigmata of malnutrition. Of the 1604 patients > or = 18 yr of age at diagnosis, only 21 of 1116 who knew their previous weight had a BMI < 19 kg/m2 before the onset of diabetic symptoms, and most of the 178 patients with a BMI < 19 kg/m2 on treatment had been normal or even overweight. In regression analysis, the factors associated with weight loss before diagnosis were the duration of symptoms in type I diabetes patients and the need for insulin from diagnosis, poverty certification, and symptom duration in type II diabetes patients. Weight gain with treatment was related to female sex, the duration of symptoms, and the absence of tuberculosis in type I diabetes patients and related to an address/birthplace not in Addis Ababa in type II diabetes patients.

CONCLUSIONS

The undernutrition at presentation is probably caused by the untreated diabetic state and is reversible with treatment, even if the patient is poor and/or lives in a rural area. No convincing cases of MRDM fulfilling the published definition could be found.