The two groups were similar in most respects, the mean age was 62.8 years (standard deviation 12.55, range 31 to 93), 122/148 (82.4%) were male and 143/148 (96.6%) were of white ethnicity; 130/148 (87.8%) of participants had type II diabetes, with median (interquartile range) diabetes duration 15.5 years (10 to 21.5 years) and 96/148 (64.9%) taking some oral hypoglycaemic agent and 83/148 (56.1%) taking insulin. This evidence concerns the gene INS and type 2 diabetes mellitus.