Over time, most diabetics will develop severe complications such as cardiovascular disease, kidney damage or eye complications. But, for an unknown reason, 10 percent never do. And researchers from the Lund University Diabetes Center want to know why. There are about 12,000 people in Sweden who have had diabetes for more than 30 years; of these, 1,600 have had it for more than 50 years. "About half of these diabetic veterans do not have major complications. Two-thirds of those who have had diabetes for more than 50 years have escaped complications. Clearly they are different and we want to find out what it is that protects them," says researcher Valeriya Lyssenko. So, they've launched a study of those who have had diabetes for 30 years or more without developing complications, as these people are unlikely to develop such complications later in life. They're calling the study PROLONG, which stands for PROtective genes in diabetes and LONGevity. Lund University release