T and B lymphocyte subpopulations in black patients with diabetes mellitus.

A modified method of assaying T and B lymphocytes was used to investigate the T and B cell subpopulations in black patients with diabetes mellitus. Thirty-eight black diabetic patients were compared to 55 non-diabetic patients (20 blacks and 35 whites). The diabetic patients had an increased T-lymphocyte population (73.4 percent +/- 7.9) as compared to the black controls (66.2 percent +/- 1.7, p less than 0.001) and the white controls (68.1 percent +/- 3.5, p less than 0.001). Black non-diabetic patients had a decreased T-cell population compared to the white non-diabetic patients. This suggests race was not an explanation for the increased T-cell percentages observed in the diabetic population. No difference was demonstrated in the percentage of B-lymphocyte subpopulations between any group.