[Prospective analysis of the natural course of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus in early adulthood].

: Non-insulin-dependent diabetics with early manifestation of the disease (NIDDM) who were registered by an epidemiological cross-sectional study 1979 in the Erfurt district were pursued prospectively and 47 of the 58 patients underwent a re-examination five years later. The changes of therapy performed (7 new administrations of insulin, 9 change from diet to normal food) as well as the metabolic development of the patients under epidemiological aspect prove the heterogeneity of NIDDM and the doubtfulness of hitherto existing MODY-criteria. The oGTT performed in 37 patients 9 times resulted in a full remission and in 4 cases in an IGT. Including the 10 insulinized patients 34 diabetics (72.3%) had remained manifest. In contrast to the initially different degree of post-load hyperglycaemia in patients with and without remission the behaviour of the insulin secretion did not show any significant differences in the course and between the groups of patients. Young non-insulin-dependent diabetics are mainly among a representative target population type-II-diabetics with early onset. In contrast to this type-I-diabetics with a long insulin-free initial phase go into the background. In our population real MODY-cases are apparently extraordinarily rare.