Limited Joint Mobility in Childhood Diabetes: Family Studies

We examined 204 persons with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), aged 7–23 yr, and 336 of their first-degree relatives, to determine whether there is a genetic component to the development of limited joint mobility. Simple and multiplex pedigrees with IDDM were studied along with normal controls. Only 1 of 90 normal controls had joint stiffness. Among 225 nondiabetic parents of children with IDDM, 7 (3%) had joint limitation, compared with 42 (21%) of children and youth with IDDM. Only 1 of 108 nondiabetic siblings of diabetic probands had limitation. Three parents had adult-onset diabetes and all had limited joint mobility. None of the 8 nondiabetic relatives with joint limitation had diabetic probands with joint involvement; 5 of these 8 tested were negative for islet cell auto-antibodies. There were 11 IDDM multiplex families with at least one member having joint limitation. The concordance rate for limited joint mobility of persons with diabetes for more than 5 yr who were over 12 yr of age was 56%, not different from the 48% frequency in patients with IDDM who met these age and duration criteria. Thus, evidence that limited joint mobility is a metabolic consequence of diabetes includes the virtual absence of limitation among first-degree relatives of probands, including probands with joint stiffness, and that the frequency of joint involvement is not increased in first-degree relatives of patients with IDDM. Furthermore, two brothers with pancreatic hypoplasia and a non-HLA-associated form of IDDM were affected with limited joint mobility. Nonetheless, the expression of this complication must be influenced by host factors, since not all persons with IDDM develop it, and those who do have variable ages of onset without correlation to control measures.