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December 1925


Author Affiliations

Fellow in Medicine, Lakeside Hospital and Western Reserve University School of Medicine CLEVELAND

From the department of medicine of Lakeside Hospital and Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Arch Intern Med (Chic). 1925;36(6):889-896. doi:10.1001/archinte.1925.00120180143014

It has been known for a long time that diabetes mellitus is a disease characterized by a greater severity in young people than in persons at or beyond middle age. In young patients thirst, excessive diuresis and loss of weight are prominent symptoms, standing in sharp contrast to the relative or absolute comfort enjoyed by older people. Exsiccation, acidosis and coma occur frequently, while in older patients they are usually secondary to some definitely assignable cause, such as acute dietary indiscretion, the onset of an acute infection or cerebral hemorrhage. In an elderly patient it is usually only after some similar mismanagement or accident that the disease runs an acute course.

Polyuria and exsiccation are always associated with the severe form of the disease, but they are either inconspicuous symptoms or are absent altogether in the milder forms. It would seem then that diuresis and renal permeability must exert an