Diabetes may be primary or secondary.
Secondary diabetes is rare, occurs due to some other
disorder like liver disease, pancreatic or other endocrine
disorder, due to certain drug usage etc.
Primary diabetes is divided into two main groups.
- Type I diabetes - represents
10% of the diabetic population
- Type II diabetes - represents
90% of the diabetic population
Type I diabetes is commonly seen
in younger population. In this group, there is a
deficiency of insulin in the body. So invariably their
treatment requires insulin replacement. These patients are
usually less than 20 years at presentation, lean and can
present with weight loss, increase frequency of urine and
marked increase of thirst. They can come with ketoacidosis
if they ignore the above symptoms.
Type II diabetes is commoner out of the two and seen in
the older population, usually > 40 years. Very often they
are over weight and consume a diet rich in refined sugars.
They present late as the onset of illness is very gradual
and hardly noticeable and by the time they are diagnosed
the disease has already affcted some organs.
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