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People with diabetes experience significant illness and even death from a variety of long term effects of elevated blood glucose levels. Diabetics are more than ten times as likely to have cardiovascular disease and are at significantly greater risk for peripheral vascular, ophthalmic, and kidney diseases than those without diabetes. Diabetes is also related to an increased risk of stroke, heart failure, blindness, limb amputations, birth complications, and sexual dysfunction.

Microvascular Complications of Diabetes

Microvascular complications are related to the duration and degree of hyperglycemia, and affect the small blood vessels of the retina in the eye, the kidneys, and the nerves, leading to:

• Diabetic Retinopathy (eye damage) - Diabetes accounts for 12,000 to 24,000 new cases of blindness annually due to damage to the blood vessels in the retina. Persons with diabetes are also at risk for cataracts and glaucoma.

• Diabetic Nephropathy (kidney damage) - The risk for kidney damage increases when coronary artery disease and hypertension are also present. Symptoms include swelling in the feet and ankles, fatigue, and pale skin color due to anemia.

• Diabetic Neuropathy (nerve damage) - This is a common complication that affects 45% of both type 1 and type 2 diabetics. Symptoms include numbness, tingling, weakness, and burning sensations usually starting in the fingers and toes and moving up to the arms and legs. Charcot foot is a condition that causes bone deformity due to repeated trauma to feet that have decreased pain sensation.

Macrovascular Complications of Diabetes

Macrovascular complications affect the large blood vessels of the heart, brain and legs leading to:

• Heart disease
• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Peripheral vascular disease - Impaired circulation in the lower legs is a common cause of ulcerations and infections. Diabetes is responsible for more than half of all the lower limb amputations performed in the U.S. each year.