Complications of Diabetes Mellitus

The long-term complications of diabetes mellitus include retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy. Diabetic retinopathy can result in loss of vision; nephropathy may lead to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD); and neuropathy poses the risk of foot ulcers, amputation, Charcot joints, sexual dysfunction, and potentially disabling dysfunction of the stomach, bowel, and bladder. Hyperglycemia sufficient to cause pathologic and functional changes in target tissues may be present for some time before clinical symptoms lead to a diagnosis of diabetes, especially in patients with type 2 diabetes. Diabetic patients are also at increased risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular, peripheral vascular, and cerebrovascular disease. These conditions may be related to hyperglycemia, as well as to the hypertension and abnormal lipoprotein profiles that are often found in diabetic patients. Prevention of these complications is a major goal of current therapeutic policy and recommendations for all but transient forms of diabetes. This chapter describes the pathogenesis, screening, prevention, and treatment of diabetic complications, as well as the management of hyperglycemia in the hospitalized patient.