Insulin Resistance in Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Sinch the beginning of the insulin era, the subject of insulin resistance has become one of increasing interest. Root (1), in 1929, termed those cases insulin-resistant which required more than 100 units daily to maintain proper carbohydrate balance. He pointed out that temporary resistance to insulin, so commonly encountered for a brief period in the comatose diabetic, properly should not be included under such a designation. He estimated, on the basis of animal experiments, that a completely depancreatized man would require 200 to 300 u daily. Undisputed cases of complete insulin resistance in man would thus be those which have a daily insulin requirement above this. There have been published a number of isolated reports of patients who have required an abnormally large amount of insulin. These have been summarised during the past year in a paper by Martin, Martin, Lyster and Strouse (2).