Diabetes

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521332866.096

VIII.34 - Diabetes

from Part VIII - Major Human Diseases Past and Present

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008

Leslie Lieberman

Edited by

Kenneth F. Kiple

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Kenneth F. Kiple: Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University, Ohio

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Summary

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an endocrine disorder characterized by the lack or insufficient production of insulin by the pancreas. DM has been recognized as a disease for at least two millennia, but only since the mid–1970s has there been a consensus on its classification and diagnosis. The primary diagnostic criterion for DM is elevation of blood glucose levels during fasting or at 2 hours following a meal. Normal plasma glucose values for adults in the fasting state are 80 to 120 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) or 4.4 to 6.7 millimoles per liter (mmol/L). Definition of unequivocal DM requires a 2-hour postingestion plasma glucose level equal to or greater than 200 mg/dL (11.1 mmol/L) for the appearance of classical symptoms of diabetes. These symptoms, which include excessive urination, urine containing sugar, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and weight loss, are common to all types of DM.

Classification

Today the designation type I DM, or insulindependent diabetes, has replaced terms such as ketosis-prone, juvenile-onset, brittle, and so forth, whereas type II DM, or non-insulin-dependent diabetes, has replaced the terms ketosis-resistant, maturity-onset, and mild diabetes. Many terms were also used for impaired glucose tolerance, a condition that may be a precursor to overt diabetes. Some of these earlier terms include latent, sub-clinical, and chemical diabetes, or prediabetes. Other variants of DM include maturity-onset diabetes of youth (MODY), tropical or J-type diabetes, which shows characteristics of both insulin dependence and non-insulin dependence, and gestational diabetes, which occurs during the latter part of pregnancy Approximately 90 to 95 percent of all individuals with DM may be classified as non-insulin-dependent, and about 5 percent as classically insulindependent.

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge World History of Human Disease , pp. 665 - 676

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521332866.096 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 1993

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