THE PURPOSE of this study was to determine whether or not there is an increased incidence of diabetes mellitus in the families of children with nephrotic syndrome. Such a relationship has been alluded to by Dr. J. D. Crawford, Harvard Medical School, at a case presentation on Sept 20, 1965 while visiting our institution, but so far no data have been published. Furthermore, a possible association was suggested by the observation of two patients in whom nephrotic syndrome occurred early in the course of diabetes mellitus but without the histologic lesions of Kimmelstiel-Wilson nephropathy.
Materials and Methods
Patients.—One hundred twenty-five children with nephrotic syndrome seen at the Mayo Clinic in the years 1953 through 1962 were used as the study probands. The mean age of these children was 5 years at the time of their initial visit. All of them were of Caucasian extraction except one Chinese boy.For