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National Diabetes Fact Sheet

Diabetes Definitions

  1. Blood glucose is the main sugar found in the blood and the body’s main source of energy. The A1c blood test is used to measure a person’s average blood sugar level over the past 2 to 3 months.
     
  2. Blood pressure is the force of blood on the inside walls of blood vessels, measured by analyzing both the systolic blood pressure, the pressure when the heart pushes blood out into the arteries, and the diastolic blood pressure, when the heart is at rest.
     
  3. Blood lipid is a term for fat in the blood stream, and is measured with a lipid profile blood test. The lipid profile test measures total cholesterol, the fat produced by the liver and found in some foods, triglycerides, the storage form of fat in the body, HDL cholesterol, fat that takes extra cholesterol from the blood to the liver for removal, and LDL cholesterol, fat that takes excess cholesterol around the body to where it’s needed, but excess ultimately rests on the inside of artery walls.
     
  4. Diabetic ketoacidosis is a condition in which very high blood sugar levels along with a very low level of insulin result in a dangerous accumulation of ketones -- substances produced when the body breaks down fat for energy -- in the blood and urine. Hyperosmolar nonketotic syndrome is another condition in which one’s blood sugar levels become very high and necessary ketones are not present in the blood or urine. Coma or death can result if both of these conditions are not treated.
     
  5. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches, and other food into energy needed for daily life.
     
  6. Metformin is a medicine pill used to treat type 2 diabetes because it lowers blood sugar levels by reducing the amount of sugar produced by the liver and helping the body respond better to insulin.

  7. Maturity-onset diabetes of the young is a kind of type 2 diabetes that accounts for 1 to 5 percent of people with diabetes and is a result of a defect in a single gene.
     
  8. Non-traumatic lower-limb amputation is a procedure to remove through surgery damaged feet or legs, where the injury was not caused by trauma (e.g., the injury was not caused by a car accident).
     
  9. Diabetic retinopathy is diabetic eye disease that results from damage to the small blood vessels in the retina, the back part of the eye that contains the cells that respond to light. It may lead to loss of eyesight. Laser therapy, one possible treatment option, uses a strong beam of light to seal the leaking blood vessels in the eye.
     
  10. End-stage renal disease is kidney failure requiring dialysis or a transplant to survive.

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  12. Glucose intolerance is a condition in which the body has blood sugar levels higher than normal, but not high enough to classify as diabetes. It is diagnosed using an oral glucose tolerance test which requires a fasting period of 8 to 12 hours and the blood sugar is measured both fasting and 2 hours after drinking a high-sugar drink.

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Page last reviewed: July 12, 2007
Page last modified: December 20, 2005

Content Source: National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Division of Diabetes Translation

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