Complications of Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

The long-term complications of diabetes mellitus include retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy. Diabetic retinopathy can result in loss of vision; nephropathy may lead to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD); and neuropathy poses the risk of foot ulcers, amputation, Charcot joints, sexual dysfunction, and potentially disabling dysfunction of the stomach, bowel, and bladder. Hyperglycemia sufficient to cause pathologic and functional changes in target tissues may be present for some time before clinical symptoms lead to a diagnosis of diabetes, especially in patients with type 2 diabetes. Diabetic patients are also at increased risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular, peripheral vascular, and cerebrovascular disease. These conditions may be related to hyperglycemia, as well as to the hypertension and abnormal lipoprotein profiles that are often found in diabetic patients. Prevention of these complications is a major goal of current therapeutic policy and recommendations for all but transient forms of diabetes. This chapter describes the pathogenesis, screening, prevention, and treatment of diabetic complications, as well as the management of hyperglycemia in the hospitalized patient. Figures illustrate the pathways that link high blood glucose levels to microvascular and macrovascular complications; fundus abnormalities in diabetic retinopathy; the natural history of nephropathy in type 1 diabetes; cumulative incidence of first cardiovascular events, stroke, or death from cardiovascular disease in patients with type 1 diabetes; the effect of intensive glycemic therapy on the risk of myocardial infarction, major cardiovascular event, or cardiovascular death in patients with type 2 diabetes; and risk of death in patients with type 2 diabetes who receive intensive therapy of multiple risk factors or conventional therapy. Tables describe screening schedules for diabetic complications in adults, foot care recommendations for patients with diabetes, and comparison of major trials of intensive glucose control. This chapter has 238 references.