Eating Disorders and Diabetic Complications

Poor metabolic control in adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is sometimes accepted as inevitable but likely to resolve when the patient's hormones, metabolism, and psyche finally come to terms with adult life. Unfortunately, such complacency is ill judged, because chronic diabetic tissue damage may begin in adolescence, and diabetic microvascular complications — especially retinopathy — may appear or worsen appreciably during puberty. Possible contributory factors include poor glycemic control, which appears to be consistently worse in adolescent girls, and increased serum growth hormone concentrations, which may be both a cause and a consequence of inadequately controlled hyperglycemia.1 The paper . . .