What Was Known About Childhood Diabetes Mellitus Before the Discovery of Insulin?
| Autor: | Jr James R Wright |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Male
Pediatrics medicine.medical_specialty Type 1 diabetes Adolescent business.industry Incidence (epidemiology) Insulin medicine.medical_treatment Childhood diabetes General Medicine Test subject medicine.disease Pathology and Forensic Medicine Diabetes Mellitus Type 1 Diabetes mellitus Pediatrics Perinatology and Child Health medicine Humans Childhood Diabetes Mellitus Medical history business |
| Zdroj: | Pediatric and Developmental Pathology. 25:73-81 |
| ISSN: | 1615-5742 1093-5266 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/10935266211042206 |
| Popis: | It has been widely reported by historians that physicians were aware of two distinct types of diabetes mellitus by the 1880s, and that these were both similar to and the direct forerunners of type 1, juvenile-onset and type 2, adult-onset diabetes. The writings of prominent specialist physicians practicing just prior to the discovery of insulin in 1921–1922 were reviewed and there is little evidence that experts believed that adult and childhood diabetes were different. In fact, more than a decade passed after the discovery of insulin before diabetes in children and adults even began to be distinguished. Childhood diabetes was exceedingly rare in the early 20th century and diabetes was believed to be primarily a chronic disease of adults. It is interesting to speculate about what might have happened if the first pancreatic extract tests had been performed on adult-onset diabetics with insulin-resistant diabetes mellitus. Clearly, the results would have been disappointing and the discovery of insulin delayed. This essay explores how the test subject decision was made. It is fortuitous that a 14 year old boy with what was unequivocally type 1 diabetes was selected to be the first insulin recipient, and the rest is history. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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