RESUMO
Type 1 Insulin Dependent diabetes mellitus [IDDM] is a chronic autoimmune disease. It characterized by the presence of auto-antibodies at diagnosis and possibly several years before the onset of clinical manifestations. An investigation was conducted to ascertain the presence of auto-antibodies including anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies [anti-GAD], anti-islet cell antibodies, and anti-insulin antibodies in the serum of patients with newly diagnosed Type I diabetes mellitus and prior to the commencement of insulin treatment. The investigation was conducted within a period spanning from January of 1998 to June 2000 and comprised both cases of children diagnosed with IDDM at Salmaniya Medical Complex and their healthy siblings whose ages were below 15 years. A total of 84 patients were diagnosed during the course of the study period, as yet we were only able to obtain auto-antibody results from a total of 52 patients and 29 healthy siblings. A total of 27 patients out of 38 [71%] proved positive for anti-GAD antibodies, 14 out of 47 patients [28.9%] were positive for anti-islet cell antibodies, and a further 12 of 39 patients [30.8%] proved positive for anti-insulin antibodies. The frequency of auto-antibodies amongst the siblings of the index cases was found to be [24%] and [14.8%] for both anti-GAD and anti-islet antibodies respectively.The high percentage of positive auto-antibodies amid the index cases is consistent with pervious studies and observations. In conclusion, the data acquired indicates the usefulness of auto-antibodies in detecting highrisk healthy siblings of Type I diabetes mellitus patients