Translations:Insulin/53/en

Diseases and syndromes

There are several conditions in which insulin disturbance is pathologic:

• Diabetes – general term referring to all states characterized by hyperglycemia. It can be of the following types:
  • Type 1 diabetes – autoimmune-mediated destruction of insulin-producing β-cells in the pancreas, resulting in absolute insulin deficiency
  • Type 2 diabetes – either inadequate insulin production by the β-cells or insulin resistance or both because of reasons not completely understood.
    • there is correlation with diet, with sedentary lifestyle, with obesity, with age and with metabolic syndrome. Causality has been demonstrated in multiple model organisms including mice and monkeys; importantly, non-obese people do get Type 2 diabetes due to diet, sedentary lifestyle and unknown risk factors, though it is important to note that this may not be a causal relationship.
    • it is likely that there is genetic susceptibility to develop Type 2 diabetes under certain environmental conditions
  • Other types of impaired glucose tolerance (see Diabetes)
• Insulinoma – a tumor of beta cells producing excess insulin or reactive hypoglycemia.
• Metabolic syndrome – a poorly understood condition first called syndrome X by Gerald Reaven. It is not clear whether the syndrome has a single, treatable cause, or is the result of body changes leading to type 2 diabetes. It is characterized by elevated blood pressure, dyslipidemia (disturbances in blood cholesterol forms and other blood lipids), and increased waist circumference (at least in populations in much of the developed world). The basic underlying cause may be the insulin resistance that precedes type 2 diabetes, which is a diminished capacity for insulin response in some tissues (e.g., muscle, fat). It is common for morbidities such as essential hypertension, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) to develop.
• Polycystic ovary syndrome – a complex syndrome in women in the reproductive years where anovulation and androgen excess are commonly displayed as hirsutism. In many cases of PCOS, insulin resistance is present.