Complications

Cardiovascular disease

According to the UKPDS, improvement in hyperglycemic control can significantly lower the risk of both micro and macrovascular complications of diabetes.
Heart disease and stroke account for 65% of deaths in diabetic patients.
Diabetic patients have heart disease death rates two to four times greater than those without diabetes.
Diabetic patients are as likely to die from a first MI as a non-diabetic patient who has survived one MI is to die from a second attack.
The risk from stroke is two to four times higher and the risk of death from stroke is two to eight times higher among patients with diabetes.
The severity of stroke is related to the degree of hyperglycemia at the time of the event.
Lower extremity peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is twice as high in diabetic patients.

Improvement in glycemic control can reduce risk of neuropathy in diabetic patients.
Present in 60 to 70% of patients.
30% of diabetic patients over 40 are insensate in their feet.
Neuropathy is the leading cause of nontramatic lower extremity amputation in the United States.
Autonomic neuropathy can cause sexual dysfunction in men and women, loss of bladder control, diarrhea, bloating, syncope, loss of temperature control, dehydration and silent MI.

Diabetes accounts for 44% of new cases of ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease) in the United States.
In the United States, over 150,000 patients with diabetes undergo dialysis.

Poorly controlled diabetes prior to conception and during the first trimester results in birth defects (macrosomia, cardiac anomalies) in 5% to 10% of fetuses and is responsible for spontaneous abortions in 20% of pregnancies.
Patients with gestational diabetes are at higher risk to develop type 2 diabetes in the future.
Babies born to mother with gestational diabetes weighing <2.5 kg or >4 kg are at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than adolescents.
Patients with preexisting retinopathy and neuropathy may experience a significant deterioration from baseline with their pregnancy.