Type 1 diabetes mellitus: Pathogenesis, symptoms and therapy

Abstract

Type 1 diabetes is responsible for approximately 10% of the whole diabetic morbidity. The cause of the disease is an autoimmune process directed against the B-cells leading to progressive and irreversible destruction of these cells, and, consequently, the complete and definitive cessation of endogenous insulin production. Accordingly, these patients should be treated with insulin since the beginning of the disease. The author describes the pathogenesis, epidemiology and symptoms of type 1 diabetes and summarizes the possible ways of therapy and care of type 1 diabetic patients.