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DIABETES is complicated occasionally by impotence in men and by retardation of physical and sexual development in children of adolescent age. Since impotence may be associated with a decrease of testicular function, a study of the excretion of 17-ketosteroids by diabetic men seemed indicated, inasmuch as it furnishes some indication of testicular function. Interpretation of results, however, is complicated by the contribution of the adrenal glands to the total excretion of 17-ketosteroids. Therefore, diabetic women were also included in the study, since in women the adrenal glands furnish almost, if not entirely, all of the urinary 17-ketosteroids (2, 7). At puberty, associated with the sexual development and growth, there is normally a rapid rise in the excretion of the 17-ketosteroids derived from the testes and from the adrenal glands (12). Therefore, the excretion of these substances by diabetic children of adolescent age was studied in relation to sexual and physical development.
Miller et al. (1945) studied this question.