
New type of diabetes discovered - Could YOU be showing symptoms of type 1.5 NOT type 2?
Researchers working on a ground-breaking study said the discovery of type 1.5 diabetes could mean adults diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in later life might actually be suffering from a strain more similar to type 1 diabetes.
They said the new study ‘highlights the uncertainty of the current classification of diabetes’.
There are two forms of the condition - type 1 diabetes occurs when the body cannot produce insulin.
One in ten people with diabetes have type 1 and it usually affects children or young adults.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin or the insulin produced does not work properly and can be linked to lifestyle factors such as being overweight.
Type 1.5 is believed to share features with both types of diabetes and occurs mainly in adults.
Fri, August 19, 2016
Diabetes is a common life-long health condition. There are 3.5 million people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK and an estimated 500,000 who are living undiagnosed with the condition.
Scientists believe it might offer more clues to accurate diagnosis and treatment of the conditions.
The type of diabetes has been informally called type 1.5 diabetes but its medical name is latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA).
Like type 1 diabetes, LADA is an indicator that an overactive immune system is damaging the body’s insulin-producing cells.
However, LADA also shares some of the same features with type 2 diabetes. For example, LADA patients do not require insulin treatments when first diagnosed – like type 2 patients.
"Correctly diagnosing subtypes of diabetes is important,
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