The natural history of diabetic nephropathy: unpredictable insulin requirements--a further clue.

Diabetic nephropathy has evolved into the single most prevalent cause of uremia among patients sustained by the United States End Stage Renal Disease program. Clarification of the natural history of kidney involvement and insufficiency in Type I and II diabetes has improved substantially over the past 5 years. However, it remains a poorly understood and relatively underreported morbid entity. This report reviews the problem, then reconstructs the natural history of diabetic nephropathy by studying the course of 50 Type I and Type II uremic diabetics treated with hemodialysis at The Long Island College Hospital. It traces the various stages from hyperglycemia to proteinuria to renal failure, and then reports morbidity, including cardiac, eye, stroke, and amputation complications. A new paradox is herein reported--the unpredictable insulin requirement, including new insulin need for the first time once hemodialysis was begun, in 8 of 50 patients studied.