Diabetes Mellitus
Definition
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease in which the body is not able to correctly process glucose for cell energy due to either an insufficient amount of the hormone insulin or a physical resistance to the insulin the body does produce. Without proper treatment through medication and/or lifestyle changes, the high blood glucose (or blood sugar) levels caused by diabetes can cause long-term damage to organ systems throughout the body.
Description
There are three types of diabetes mellitus: type 1 (also called juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes), type 2 (also called adult-onset diabetes), and gestational diabetes. While type 2 is the most prevalent, consisting of 90 to 95 percent of diabetes patients in the United States, type 1 diabetes is more common in children....
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