Although diabetes occurs most often in older adults, it is one of the most common chronic disorders in children in the United States. Almost 130,000 children and teenagers have diabetes. The yearly treatment expenses for diabetes in the U.S. alone approaches 100 billion dollars. I Diabetes is characterized by total destruction of the insulin cells in the pancreas, probably by an auto-immune reaction. There seems to be some undefined genetic tendency.
Most patients are thin and underweight.
Type II diabetes is characterized by the body's cells inability to use insulin or an insufficient amount of secreted insulin. A large majority of patients are overweight - most are women. However, as it became apparent that type II diabetes may occur at any age, this term was largely abandoned. There is a strong familial tendency to develop type II diabetes, but not by simple genetic inheritance. Treatment may consist of diet and weight loss, exercise, oral drugs which stimulate the release of insulin, insulin injections - or a combination of the above.