Relationship between acetylator phenotype and intensity of the hypoglycaemic effect of a suplhonamide preparation in children with insulin-dependent diabetes.

The distribution of acetylator phenotypes was determined in 95 healthy children (4-15 y) and in 48 children with Type I diabetes (5-15) using the sulphadimidine test for the determination of acetylation capacity. The frequency of slow acetylators within the diabetic group (60.4%) closely resembled that in the healthy population (59.0%). There was no significant sex difference within either group. Subgrouping according to age showed a more marked preponderance of slow acetylators (65.0%) among children under six years of age on the control group but not in the diabetics (60.0%). Despite a relatively low dose of sulphadimidine used for acetylator phenotyping (20 mg/kg orally), a marked hypoglycaemic effect was observed in diabetics with slow but not with fast acetylator phenotype. The result appears to be coherent with the marked difference in the plasma concentrations of non-metabolized sulphadimidine which 6 h after the dose was 3.5-fold higher in slow acetylators than in fast ones. (Tab. 2, Fig. 1, Ref. 53.)