Complications of diabetes
Although diabetes is a metabolic condition, it shares many risk factors with other conditions such as coronary heart disease, chronic kidney disease and stroke. Poorly controlled diabetes is associated with disabling and life-threatening long-term complications arising from cumulative damage to small blood vessels (microvascular complications) or the cardiovascular consequences of the metabolic abnormalities associated with diabetes (macrovascular complications).
The specific microvascular complications of diabetes include:
- Retinopathy - irreversible damage to the retina which can lead to blindness. Diabetes is the leading cause of preventable blindness of people of working age within the UK. In England and Wales 7% of people who are registered blind have diabetic retinopathy.3
- Nephropathy - lesions in the kidney which can lead to kidney failure. This is the largest cause of renal failure in working age people in the UK. Approximately 75% of diabetic patients will develop some stage of chronic kidney disease with CKD accounting for 11% of deaths in type 2 diabetic patients.3
- Neuropathy - is estimated to affect up to 26% of patients with diabetes and leads to reduced sensation in the lower limbs and feet increasing the risk of ulceration and amputation. Patients with type 2 diabetes are estimated to be up to 30 times more likely to have an amputation compared with the general population.3
Macrovascular complications include:
- Cardiovascular disease e.g. myocardial infarction
- Peripheral arterial disease e.g. intermittent claudication
- Cerebrovascular disease e.g. stroke or transient ischaemic attack
Additional complications of type 2 diabetes include:
- Metabolic complications e.g. dyslipidaemia and diabetic ketoacidosis
- Psychological complications e.g. anxiety and depression
- Reduced quality of life
- Increased risk of infection
- Reduced life expectancy
- Increased risk of developing dementia