Prevention and Treatment of the Complications of Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease characterized by hyperglycemia and by complications that include microvascular disease of the eye and kidney and a variety of clinical neuropathies. 1 Although diabetes is also associated with premature macrovascular disease, this review is limited to a discussion of retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy. The pathophysiology of these complications of diabetes was recently reviewed in the Journal. 1 The specific association of microvascular disease and neuropathy with diabetes and the relation of the two complications to the duration of diabetes suggest that they are linked to hyperglycemia or a concomitant metabolic abnormality. The Diabetes Control and Complications . . .