Long-Term Complications of Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is a disease of metabolic dysregulation, most notably abnormal glucose metabolism, accompanied by characteristic long-term complications. The complications that are specific to diabetes include retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy. Patients with all forms of diabetes of sufficient duration, including insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), are vulnerable to these complications, which cause serious morbidity (Table 1 and Table 2). Retinopathy is so characteristic of diabetes that its presence has been incorporated into the nosologic definition of NIDDM. Only hyperglycemia of sufficient magnitude to be associated with retinopathy is classified as NIDDM, while lower levels of hyperglycemia that are . . .