COMPLICATIONS OF DIABETES

People with diabetes have an increased risk of developing a number of serious health
problems. Consistently high blood glucose levels can lead to serious diseases
affecting the heart and blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, nerves and teeth. In addition,
people with diabetes also have a higher risk of developing infections. In almost all
high-income countries, diabetes is a leading cause of cardiovascular
disease, blindness, kidney failure, andlower limb amputation.

Maintaining blood glucose levels, blood pressure, and cholesterol at or close to

normal can help delay or prevent diabetes complications. Therefore people with
diabetes need regular monitoring.1

1_ COMPLICATIONS OF DIABETES (on line)

Available at
http://www.idf.org/complications-diabetes

People with diabetes can benefit from education about the disease and treatment,
good nutrition to achieve a normal body weight, and exercise, with the goal of keeping
both short-term and long-term blood glucose levels within acceptable bounds. In
addition, given the associated higher risks of cardiovascular disease, lifestyle
modifications are recommended to control blood pressure 2

2 Diabetes mellitus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , Lifestyle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_mellitus#Epidemiology

The long-term complications of diabetes have major consequences for individual subjects and growing
healthcare delivery and cost implications for society. Evidence for the benefits of good glycaemic control, as
monitored by glycated haemoglobin measurements, has been developed in the 25 years since they were
introduced to the point where HbA1c assays play central roles in patient management, clinical guidance and
audit, and clinical trial design. In this review this evidence is examined and three classes of uncertainty
identified that diminish confidence in the effectiveness of these roles for HbA 1c. 2

2 Diabetic Medicine

Volume 21, Issue 7, pages 657–665, July 2004

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1464-
5491.2003.01065.x/abstract?userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=

The incidence of blindness due to diabetic retinopathy has increased from less than 1 % in 1930 to
more than 15% in 1960. A similar increase has occurred in the incidence of other forms of diabetic
degenerative vascular disease. Clinical statistics have demonstrated that the incidence of
retinopathy is directly related to the duration of the disease and that the onset of retinopathy can
be delayed and its severity limited by careful diabetic control. Despite a major research effort the
pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy is not clear and there is no specific treatment. Early case
finding and strict control are the only methods now available for the prevention and modification
of the degenerative vascular complications of diabetes. 3

3 Frank C. Winter, M.D.

JAMA. 1960;174(2):143-146.

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=329397&resultClick=3

Effective prevention is needed to combat the worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes.

We investigated the long-term extent of beneficial effects of lifestyle intervention and
metformin on diabetes prevention, originally shown during the 3-year Diabetes
Prevention Program (DPP), and assessed whether these interventions reduced
diabetes-associated microvascular complications.4

4Published Online:13 September 2015

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(15)00291-0/abstract