Diabetes secondary to pancreatic disease (PD) represents a useful model for the study of the effects of chronic hyperglycemia on microangiopathic complications in the absence of those genetic factors predisposing to Type I diabetes. Our aim was to evaluate the prevalence of nephropathy and retinopathy in a group of 86 patients with PD. The genetic pattern, assessed by the determination of HLA antigens, was different than in patients with Type I diabetes. A family history of diabetes was present in 53% of the patients. The prevalence of retinopathy was 37%. Eighteen percent of the patients with duration of diabetes less than 10 years showed an albumin excretion rate (AER) greater than 40 mg/24 hr. The prevalence of pathologic microalbuminuria (greater than 40 mg/24 hr) was found in 29% of the patients with duration of diabetes greater than 10 years. The prevalence of pathologic microalbuminuria is related to the duration of diabetes. Both diastolic and systolic blood pressure is positively correlated to albumin excretion rate (p less than 0.02), suggesting a possible role of hypertension in the evolution of nephropathy. Sixty-one percent of the patients with AER greater than 40 mg/24 h had retinopathy, thus confirming the close association between renal and ocular complications. Abnormal microalbuminuria and retinopathy were not influenced by a family history of diabetes. We conclude that the prevalence of microangiopathic complications is similar to that seen in Type I diabetes, and the metabolic abnormalities of diabetes can play a direct role in the development of diabetic microangiopathy.