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Why Control Diabetes?, Harold Rifkin

MCV/Q, Medical College of Virginia Quarterly

The definition of diabetes control varies widely among specialists of the disease. Proponents of "good" control believe that the goals of appropriate therapy for diabetes should include an all-out effort to obtain levels of fasting and postprandial blood glucose as close to those in the non-diabetic as possible. Certainly, good control has been proven to accomplish the following: 1. prevention of ketoacidosis; 2. prevention of severe hypoglycemia; 3. decrease in perinatal mortality and morbidity; 4. promotion of normal growth and development of the juvenile diabetic; 5. prevention of, or inhibition of, infection. The evidence that hyperglycemia is responsible for vascular …