October 1, 2001
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Belleville, Kansas, USA:
Is it anything to worry about if your son has borderline diabetes? I have not been around it so I don’t know much about it. Would you please help me?
Answer:
I’m not sure of your exact meaning when using the term borderline diabetes. In the modern management of diabetes, the term borderline has no real meaning that I’m aware of.
In most cases, one either has diabetes or does not. Sometimes, if type 1 diabetes is caught very early, it can be very easily controlled with small amounts of insulin. However, this is clearly still diabetes and should not be referred to as “borderline diabetes.”
MSB
[Editor’s comment: One possibility is that your son has what is now known as impaired glucose tolerance, which means that his blood sugar is not normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes at this time. However, it is important that he have careful followup. See Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes.
SS]
