History of diabetes treatment in the Czech countries The main aims and objectives of the DIABETESMUSEUM.CZ is to capture the historical development of the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of diabetes mellitus in the Czech countries from the earliest times to the present.

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases whose common feature is hyperglycemia (high blood glucose). It is characterized by impaired secretion or insulin action, and is also associated with impaired metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

 

 

About 250 million people suffer from diabetes today and diabetes causes about 5 % of all deaths worldwide , so we can talk even about the global epidemic.

In 2016, more than 841 thousand people suffered from diabetes in the Czech Republic, which is about 8% of the Czech population . This represents an average increase of number of registered diabetics by about 15,000 a year.

Diabetes therefore represents not only health , but also a significant economic burden .Historical data on the methods of treatment of diabetes in the Czech lands were mostly taken from the journal „Časopis lékařů českých“ ( published since 1862) and „Praktický lékař“ ( published since 1921). The first major work related to diabetes already appeared in 1825 and since 1862 is the treatment of this disease regularly commented on above mentioned journals.

 

 

The most information appears after the discovery of insulin in 1921, there was a huge development of knowledge about diabetes. Then we could notice a great lapse of information during the war years , because the war medicine was focused on treatment of infectious diseases. In the postwar years , we can see only a slight increase of information , because the focus was still made for treatment of diseases associated with the war - tuberculosis , infectious diseases , sexually transmitted diseases.

In the socialist era we can see some isolation of the Czechoslovak diabetology compared with the rest of the world and the doctors were also limited in using medicines . In spite of this fact diabetes care remained at a good level, there were a lot of consulting centers for diabetics and the doctors worked in a good cooperation with the general practitioners. There was targeted search programme for diabetics, too, known as National diabetology programme.

At present, the treatment of diabetes is running according to modern global principles and achieving a good quality.

 

 

The DIABETSMUSEUM.CZ presents an overall knowledge of the historical development of diabetes diagniostic, monitoring and treatment in the Czech coountries from the earliest times to the present, in the context of a changing world . DIABETESMUSEUM.CZ has been trying using the example of the technological development of diagnostic and monioring tools, as well as pharmaceutical research in the field of treatment to approach the audience, listeners with key milestones of the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes mellitus in particular historical periods, with the main focus being the discovery of insulin.

In general it can be concluded that a high standard of care for diabetics and step with the world in diabetology we maintain during the whole period until today.