ABSTRACT
As reviewed in the previous chapter, the first suggestion of variable susceptibility to diabetic nephropathy emerged from epidemiological studies of the incidence rates suggesting the existence of a subset of type 1 diabetic patients, who are susceptible to develop diabetic nephropathy during the first and second decades of diabetes. In addition, a marked racial variation in the prevalence rates of diabetic nephropathy has been described. Furthermore, the unanimously reported familial clustering of diabetic nephropathy and the observations of elevated blood pressure and increased cardiovascular morbidity and early mortality among parents of type 1 diabetic patients with diabetic nephropathy support the hypothesis, that hereditary factors are involved in the liability to develop diabetic nephropathy.
