Harold Himsworth Classifies Type II (insulin Resistant) Diabetes

Who:Harold Himsworth
When:November 1936
How: By measuring blood glucose levels in patients
Institution: University College Hospital
Where: London, England

Himsworth studied medicine at the University of London and trained in University College Hospital (UCH). His early involvement in medical research (especially of diabetes and later of liver disease) would lead to an important 1936 paper in The Lancet, distinguishing the two main types of diabetes.

Himsworth worked to discover a way to measure blood glucose levels, critical for treating and understanding diabetes. From his tests on patients he noticed that there are two main types of diabetes, the insulin-depleted (type 1) and the insulin-resistant form (type 2). Insulin resistance is a term and concept of his coinage.

Insulin resistance means that body cells do not respond appropriately when insulin is present. Unlike type 1 diabetes mellitus, the insulin resistance is generally "post-receptor", meaning it is a problem with the cells that respond to insulin rather than a problem with production of insulin.

Severe complications can result from improperly managed type 2 diabetes, including renal failure, blindness, slow healing wounds (including surgical incisions), and arterial disease, including coronary artery disease. The onset of type 2 has been most common in middle age and later life, although it is being more frequently seen in adolescents and young adults due to an increase in child obesity and inactivity.

References

  1. Diabetologia Journal article on Himsworth

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