Complications of diabetes
Heart disease
Heart disease is the leading cause of diabetes-related deaths. Adults with diabetes have heart disease death rates about 2 to 4 times higher than adults without diabetes.
Stroke
The risk for stroke is 2 to 4 times higher among people with diabetes.
High blood pressure
About 73 percent of adults with diabetes have blood pressure greater than or equal to 130/80 mm Hg or use prescription medications for hypertension.
Blindness
Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults 20 to 74 years old.
Diabetic retinopathy causes12,000 to 24,000 new cases of blindness each year.
Kidney disease
Diabetes is the leading cause of treated end-stage renal disease, accounting for 43 percent of new cases.
In 1999, approximately 38,160 people with diabetes began treatment for end-stage renal disease.
In 1999, a total of 114,478 people with diabetes underwent dialysis or kidney transplantation.
Nervous system disease
About 60 percent to 70 percent of people with diabetes have mild to severe forms of nervous system damage. The results of such damage include impaired sensation or pain in the feet or hands, slowed digestion of food in the stomach, carpal tunnel syndrome and other nerve problems.
Severe forms of diabetic nerve disease are a major contributing cause of lower-extremity amputations.
Amputations
More than 60 percent of non-traumatic, lower-limb amputations in the United States occur among people with diabetes.
From 1997 to 1999, about 82,000 nontraumatic lower-limb amputations were performed each year among people with diabetes.
Dental disease
Periodontal or gum diseases are more common among people with diabetes than among people without diabetes. Among young adults, those with diabetes are often at twice the risk of those without diabetes.
Almost one third of people with diabetes have severe periodontal diseases with loss of attachment of the gums to the teeth measuring 5 millimeters or more.
Complications of pregnancy
Poorly controlled diabetes before conception and during the first trimester of pregnancy can cause major birth defects in 5 percent to 10 percent of pregnancies and spontaneous abortions in 15 percent to 20 percent of pregnancies.
Poorly controlled diabetes during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy can result in excessively large babies, posing a risk to the mother and the child.
Other complications
Uncontrolled diabetes often leads to biochemical imbalances that can cause acute life-threatening events, such as diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and hyperosmolar (nonketotic) coma. These are emergency conditions in which extremely high blood glucose levels, along with a severe lack of insulin, result in the breakdown of body fat for energy and an accumulation of ketones in the blood and urine. Signs of DKA are nausea and vomiting, stomach pain, fruity breath odor, and rapid breathing. Untreated DKA can lead to coma and death.
People with diabetes are more susceptible to many other illnesses and, once they acquire these illnesses, often have worse prognoses than people without diabetes. For example, they are more likely to die with pneumonia or influenza than people who do not have diabetes.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National diabetes fact sheet: general information and national estimates on diabetes in the United States, 2000.
To learn more about treatments for type 1 diabetes, read what Dr. Rajeev Jain, endocrinologist with Advanced Healthcare, says about new medications.
Find out more about type 2 diabetes treatments with Dr. Jordan Sennett, endocrinologist with Advanced Healthcare.
