Insulin Resistance: A Common Feature of Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

In a classic article in 1965, Shipp et al. reviewed the subject of insulin resistance in diabetes (defined as an insulin requirement of more than 200 U per day) and declared it a rare complication that occurred in only about 0.01 percent of all diabetic patients seen over a 20-year period at the Joslin Diabetes Center.¹ All the patients were insulin-treated, and in most, antibodies to insulin could be found in the circulation. Three articles in this issue of the Journal^{,2 3 4} as well as one in last week's issue,⁵ dramatically illustrate how our definition of insulin resistance has changed. . . .