RT Book, Section
A1 Zgibor, Janice C.
A1 Dorman, Janice S.
A1 Orchard, Trevor J.
A2 Wallace, Robert B.
SR Print(0)
ID 1141961164
T1 Diabetes
T2 Maxcy-Rosenau-Last Public Health and Preventive Medicine, 15e
YR 2017
FD 2017
PB McGraw-Hill Medical
PP New York, NY
SN 9780071441988
LK accessbiomedicalscience.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1141961164
RD 2024/04/25
AB Diabetes  is  an  important  chronic  disease  both  in  terms  of  the  number  of  persons  affected  and  the  considerable  associated  morbidity  and  early  mortality.  In  this  review  we  will  focus  on  the  epidemiology  and  public  health  implications  of  diabetes.  Diabetes  is  a  chronic  disease  in  which  there  is  a  deficiency  in  the  action  of  the  hormone  insulin.  This  may  result  from  a  quantitative  deficiency  of  insulin,  an  abnormal  insulin  level,  resistance  to  its  action,  or  a  combination  of  deficits.  Two  major  forms  of  the  disease  are  recognized:  type  1  diabetes  (formerly  referred  to  as  insulin-dependent  diabetes)  which  comprises  about  10%  of  all  cases,  and  type  2  diabetes  (formerly  referred  to  as  non-insulin-dependent  diabetes),  which  accounts  for  about  90%  of  the  cases.  Type  2  diabetes  may  occasionally  occur  as  a  result  of  other  diseases  such  as  acromegaly  and  Cushing's  syndrome.  Metabolic  disorders  such  as  hemochromatosis,  can  also  cause  the  disease.  Diabetes  can  also  be  drug  induced,  for  example,  by  steroids  and  possibly  by  the  thiazide  diuretics  and  oral  contraceptives.  Finally,  diabetes  may  occur  secondary  to  disease  processes  directly  affecting  the  pancreas,  such  as  cancer  or  chronic  pancreatitis,  which  destroy  the  insulin-producing  beta  cells  in  the  pancreatic  islets  (of  Langerhans).  However,  these  are  relatively  rare  causes  of  diabetes.