ABSTRACT
The prevention of the long-term complications of diabetes is one of the major goals of diabetes research. The assumption that underlies much of this research is that the chronic hyperglycemia and associated metabolic abnormalities that are consequences even of treated diabetes are the primary causes of diabetic angiopathy. Views of the medical community began to change as retrospective studies published in the early 1950s suggested that the degree of development of diabetic complications was related to the precision with which glucose control was maintained. The chapter describes Type I diabetes as a disease of absolute insulin deficiency. Patients with Type II diabetes are described as neither insulin-dependent nor ketosis-prone, although they may require insulin to prevent hyperglycemia, and may develop ketosis under certain circumstances. Type I diabetes is characterized by early onset, insulin-dependence, ß-cell destruction, often normal peripheral insulin sensitivity and irreversibility.
