Baton Rouge Clinic Health Library

Diabetes > Adult Onset Diabetes

     Published: 09, 2001

Diabetes is a disease on the rise in the United States. There are two main types of diabetes- Type 1, also known as "Juvenile-Onset Diabetes" and "Insulin Dependent Diabetes", usually is diagnosed in childhood. Type 2, also know as "Adult Onset Diabetes" and "Non-insulin Dependent Diabetes", is most often diagnosed after the third decade of life. The two types share the common finding of hyperglycemia, but their etiologies are quite different.

Type 1 diabetes is caused by the destruction of pancreatic insulin producing cells by their one's own immune system.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when a person's body becomes resistant to the insulin that is produced by a normally functioning pancreas. Both have a familial tendency. Someone with a parent or sibling with type 1 diabetes has approximately a five percent chance of developing type 1 diabetes. A person with a sibling or parent with type 2 diabetes has a forty to sixty percent chance of developing type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes is a disease, if left untreated can cause significant deterioration to a person's physical health. The eyes, kidneys, nervous and circulatory systems can all be adversely affected if diabetes is left untreated. For this reason, the American Diabetes Association recommends yearly screening of fasting blood sugars for individuals with diabetes risk factors. These risk factors include: obesity, a family history of diabetes, being a member of a high risk ethnic group (including African-American, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and American Indian,) and giving birth to a baby greater than nine pounds.

Additionally, a person having symptoms of diabetes should be screened with a fasting blood sugar. Symptoms of diabetes include unusual thirst, frequent urination, blurry vision, unexplained weight loss, and burning or numbness in the hands or feet.

Your brother's doctor told him that he probably had his diabetes long before he was actually diagnosed. He made this assertion because the blood sugars at which diabetes is diagnosed are much lower than the blood sugars at which symptoms generally develop. A normal fasting blood sugar is generally considered to be less than 110. The diagnosis of diabetes is made when a person has two fasting blood sugars greater than 126..The symptoms associated with diabetes don't usually begin until a blood sugar exceeds 200. Your brother, therefore, has probably had asymptotic high blood sugars for quite some time.

Because your brother was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes mellitus, you now have a significant family history and should be screened. Since you do not have symptoms of diabetes, it is unlikely, but not impossible, that you will be diagnosed with diabetes, but because early diagnosis and treatment can decrease long-term complications of diabetes, it is important that you receive a screening fasting blood sugar.

Gary Field, MD
Specializing in Endocrinology

The Baton Rouge Clinic, AMC, offers this information as a courtesy service. Please remember that medical knowledge is always evolving and we cannot represent that any of our information is absolutely current. Please consult a physician before taking any medical action based on information gathered from this or any website.