The Clinical Features of Diabetes Mellitus in Japan as Observed in a Hospital Outpatient Clinic

A University diabetes clinic in Japan was characterized in terms of age, age at “onset,” sex ratio, microangiopathies, neuropathy, atherosclerotic complications, weight, heredity and diet. The findings in this clinic, along with those from other diabetes clinics in Japan, were compared with studies on Western diabetics. The similarities between the two diabetic populations in clinics far outnumbered the dissimilarities. However, diabetes mellitus in Japanese diabetes clinics is distinguished by the infrequent occurrence of juvenile diabetes and ketosis, relative lack of atherosclerotic complications and reversal of the sex ratio.