Value of glucose control in preventing complications of diabetes.

Many functional, biochemical, and morphologic changes occur in diabetes in animal models and in humans. The responses of humans and animals to treatment with insulin indicate that these changes are induced by the diabetic milieu and are indirect or direct consequences of insulin deficiency and/or hyperglycemia. Guidelines for acceptable laboratory values in controlling diabetes are presented, as is evidence supporting a metabolic basis for vascular complications of the disease. On the basis of the results of a recently published prospective study of 59 patients with diabetes, fluorophotometry is cited as a technique that may predict development of retinopathy.