[Clinical characteristics and hormonal-metabolic homeostasis in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with stable and labile courses].

Combined examination of 117 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus revealed the clinical and hormonal features of stable and labile diseases. Emphasis is laid on the complexity of the lability phenomenon; evidence is given for the necessity of differentiating between genuine lability and that of the iatrogenic type. The importance of hormonal shifts (depletion of the secretory capability of the insulin-producing apparatus and reduction of contrainsular effects) for the origin of destabilization of glucose homeostasis is discussed.