|
| Categories: History of diabetes |
| History of diabetes | |
|
The history of mmol per litre
|
| |
In the international setting a uniformed system of units of measurement had been developed after the Second World War. Six basic units formed the foundation: metre (length), kilogram (weight), second (time), ampere (amperage), Calvin (temperature) and candela (luminosity). In how far this Système International d'Unités (short SI) works can be seen, on the one hand at the lesser use of metre in comparison to miles or foot and on the other hand in the display of Celsius even though it should be in Calvin. The same fate occurred to mmol, which in 1971 was added as seventh unit. Thus the SI system, despite the WHO recommendation, has been put through in some countries only in the technical and scientific field and it competes in the field of diabetes in almost every country with mg/dl. Mmol has been introduced by the Turin physician Conte Amadeo Avogadro (1776-1856).
In Germany, due to the time of the Cold War, it came to a division into two parts: While the former GDR as well as the Soviet Union had adopted the SI, the federal states of former West Germany had and will continue to hold on to the conventional display of mg/dl. When moving and travelling from the federal states of former West Germany to the states of former GDR and vice versa, it is therefore very important to mention and write down the units of measure, so that in case of an emergency there will not be a confusion (25mmol/l is a serious derailment that carries the danger of a ketosis and 25mg/dl is a serious hypoglycaemia
Textual partly source: AccuChek Dialog 3/2005, p.22
Translated by Juliane Machado |
Diabetes Information | Contact | Board
|
| Linked articles: |
|
|
|
|
| Comments (0) |
|
in Version 00.08.49