Definition and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus:

Definition and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus:

            DM refers to a group of common metabolic disorders that share the phenotype of hyperglycemia.  Several distinct type of DM are caused by a complex interaction of genetics and environmental factors. Depending on the etiology of DM, factors contributing to hyperglycemia include reduced insulin secretion, decreased glucose utilization, and increased glucose production.

          The National Diabetes Data Group (NDDG) in the USA published a provisional consensus  classification  and  diagnosis  of  diabetes  mellitus  and  other  categories  of glucose tolerance, which became the basis for that recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert committee on diabetes in 1980. 

                The   WHO classification represented a landmark by providing standardized diagnostic criteria for diabetes and a uniform terminology suitable for clinical and epidemiological researches, which have now been widely adopted. A subsequent WHO study grouping 1985, revised the above classification as appended below.