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Diabetes and Associated Variables in the South Australian Aboriginal
Author(s) -
Wise P. H.,
Edwards F. M.,
Craig R. J.,
Evans B.,
Murchland J. B.,
Sutherland B.,
Thomas D. W.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 0004-8291
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-5994.1976.tb03653.x
Subject(s) - medicine , diabetes mellitus , family medicine , endocrinology
Summary: Diabetes and associated variables in the South Australian Aboriginal. P. H. Wise, F. M. Edwards, R. J. Craig, B. Evans, J. B. Murchland, B. Sutherland and D. W. Thomas Diabetes of a predominant maturity‐onset type has been identified as being up to ten times more prevalent in South Australian Aborigines than in Caucasians. On the evidence provided, nutritional status and obesity are thought to be dominant in the aetiology of the hyperglycaemia, although relative hyperinsulinaemia in full blood Aborigines suggests a significant racial genetic effect. It is suggested on these and other grounds that the diabetic genotype may represent a factor of previous survival advantage to the Aboriginal, now rendered deleterious by urbanization. The degree of hyperglycaemia, and its association with hyperlipidaemia, obesity, retinal arteriovenous changes and abnormal electrocardiographic findings, accentuates the significance of the diabetes, and underlines the serious need for ongoing nutritional education in these communities.