Type 1 diabetes-related autoantibodies are rare in Alaska native populations.
OBJECTIVES: When clinical data were initially gathered from the Alaskan Eskimos in the 1950's, diabetes mellitus was noted to be quite rare. The prevalence of diabetes has increased significantly since that time, with rates of 10% reported recently in some Alaska native populations. Our goal was to understand the pathogenesis of diabetes among these groups, with the hypothesis that Alaskan Eskimos