Microvascular and Macrovascular Complications of Diabetes

Diabetes is a group of chronic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia. Chronic hyperglycemia injures the human body in many different ways. Modern medical care therefore uses a vast array of lifestyle and pharmaceutical interventions aimed at preventing and controlling hyperglycemia. One of the chief injuries arising from hyperglycemia is injury to vasculature, which is classified as either small vascular injury (microvascular disease) or injury to the large blood vessels of the body (macrovascular disease). As medical science advances increasingly toward prevention of complications of diabetes, it is important for clinicians to be familiar with the relationship between diabetes control and vascular injury.