a subgroup of patients diagnosed earlier as type 2 diabetes (around 12%) (1) has circulating autoantibodies
circulating autoantibodies are to islet cell cytoplasmatic antigens (ICA) and more frequently to glutamic acid decarboxilase (GAD, GADab) (2)
patients were reported earlier as type 1 diabetes, but according to the WHO Classification of diabetes mellitus it is called now Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA) (3 and 4)
LADA could be a part of the type 2 diabetes since its onset is in the adulthood,
LADA shows some characteristics of type 2 diabetes, which is a heterogenous disease that results from a combination of abnormalities in both insulin secretion and insulin action
LADA cases are usually with genuine insulin deficiency, many are non-obese with a beta-cell secretory defect (3). This compares with other cases of type 2 diabetes where hyperinsulinaemia is a characteristic feature
in consideration of the genetic factors influencing the development of LADA (5):
the most important genetic risk factors for LADA is heterozygosity for DR3-DQ2/DR4-DQ8 followed by heterozygosity for MICA5.0/5.1, and finally to some extent homozygosity for DR3-DQ2
DR15-DQ6 is a protective factor for type 1 diabetes and to some extent for LADA
some alternate the terms LADA and type 1.5 diabetes (6)
people diagnosed with LADA are usually over age 30
for the WHO consultation, K.G.M.M. Alberti and P.Z. Zimmet , Definition, diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus and its complications. Part 1: diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. Provisional Report of a WHO consultation. Diabetic Med. 15 1998 (1998), pp. 539–553.
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