Diabetes Flashcards
What is diabetes mellitus?
chronic metabolic disorder characterized by increased blood glucose (hyperglycemia) resulting from impaired insulin secretion and/or action
What is diabetes a risk factor for?
cancer, Alzheimers, digestive, and more
What is impaired glucose tolerance?
between ‘normal’ and ‘diabetes’ in level of blood glucose
What was type I diabetes previously called?
insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) or juvenile-onset diabetes
What was type 2 diabetes previously called?
non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset diabetes
- people now end up on insulin
When do people get type I vs. type 2 diabetes?
type 1: can get at any age, but most commonly at 14
type 2: generally occurs in adulthood (adult-onset), but more and more children are being diagnosed
Which type of diabetes is the non-autoimmune form?
type 2
Which type of diabetes is most often associated with obesity?
type 2
What is gestational diabetes?
occurs during some pregnancies (related to type 2 diabetes)
What is gestational diabetes caused by?
caused by hormonal changes, leading to excess stress on beta cells (from burden from carrying fetus)
What are people who had gestational diabetes more susceptible to later in life?
type 2 diabetes
What are other rare forms of diabetes caused by?
single gene mutations
- neonatal diabetes (permanent or transient)
- maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY) (2-5 % of diabetes)
Which type of diabetes is more common?
type 2 (90%)
What is type I diabetes characterized by?
lack of beta cells (and therefore insulin secretion)
What is the likely cause of type 1 diabetes?
combination of genetic susceptibility and ‘environmental’ triggers and suppressors
What happens if type 1 diabetes is not treated?
ketoacidosis and eventually death follows
What do type 1 diabetes patients require for survival?
require exogenous insulin (insulin-dependent diabetes)
but using insulin to manage glucose levels does NOT cure diabetes
How effective is type 1 diabetes treatment?
aggressive insulin therapy (better glucose control) reduces diabetes complications by 50%
What is type 1 diabetes?
autoimmune disease involving selective destruction of pancreatic beta cells by inappropriately activated T lymphocytes
tricks pancreatic beta-cells into committing cellular suicide
cause of autoimmune attack is not well understood, but it appears that both genetic and acquired (environmental) factors are important
What is found in type 1 diabetic patients?
several circulating autoantibodies against beta-cell proteins (including insulin itself)
What are ‘environmental’ factors (acquired factors) involved in type 1 diabetes?
factors still unclear, but several candidate triggers have been investigated:
- viruses
- sources of non-human insulin
What is the greatest risk factor of type 1 diabetes?
(genetic) alleles of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes (encoding human leukocyte antigens, HLA)
What do HLA-DR and HLA-DQ alleles do?
can either increase risk of diabetes, or protect against disease
What are the genetic factors that contribute to genetic risk of type 1 diabetes?
- MHC genes
- insuline gene
What are MHC genes?
important in processing and presentation of foreign antigens by macrophages
How does the insulin gene itself contribute genetic risk to type 1 diabetes?
- both protective and ‘at-risk’ alleles exist
- mechanism is unknown
What are some acute symptoms/complications of diabetes? (5)
- glucosuria
- polyuria
- polydipsia
- polyphagia
- ketoacidosis
What is glucosuria?
blood glucose level exceeds renal threshold for glucose absorption and glucose appears in urine
What is polyuria?
(frequent urination) glucose in urine causes osmotic diuresis