What is LADA diabetes? Diagnoses of this type of diabetes, which falls between type 1 and type 2, are increasing. Up to 10% of diabetics initially classified as type 2 diabetes are affected.
It’s called LADA, from English Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adultsin Italian autoimmune diabetes with slow evolution towards insulin dependence.
LADA diabetes: for some experts it is type 1.5, halfway between type 1 and type 2
Il type 1 diabetes it is also called juvenile diabetes, because it generally appears in the early part of life. It often appears when you are a child or teenager. We know that it is a disease of genetic originUnlike the type 2 one which generally derives from bad eating habits and sedentary lifestyle. According to some experts, LADA diabetes is type 1 diabetes in adults, so much so that some call it type 1.5 diabetes.
An insidious diagnosis, it is often confused with type 2 diabetes
As was said at the onset of symptoms, doctors treat these patients as if they had type 2 diabetes. They follow a diet, do physical activity and are prescribed oral hypoglycemics. After about a couple of years the symptoms worsen and they need to follow insulin therapysuch as those with type 1 diabetes.
The first problem encountered in these cases is the diagnosis. There are no diagnostic standards yet that they can tell us clearly that it is LADA.
What are the warning signs of LADA diabetes?
However, there are some warning signs:
it usually arrives before the age of fifty of age, i patients are of normal weighttherefore they are not obese nor overweight,
they do not have metabolic syndromethey have family history of type 1 diabetes or other autoimmune diseases,
hyperglycemia that does not go down not even with oral hypoglycemics.
As there are no diagnostic standards they are general statistical indications. Therefore, it can happen that you have LADA diabetes even if you are overweight and, for example, are over 50 years old.
Usually the diagnosis arrives randomly after a routine blood test or done for some other health problem. Generally the doctor thinks of type 2 diabetes, without proceeding with the test to identify auto-antibodies.
Differences between LADA diabetes and type 2 diabetes
As we said, often autoimmune diabetes LADA is asymptomatic or in any case does not have the typical manifestations of type 2 diabetes. Furthermore the patient has a normal weight, but has greater difficulty keeping blood sugar levels under control also with oral hypoglycemics. However, the onset of insulin dependence is quicker in LAD diabetics than in type 2 diabetics.
What are the therapies?
The objectives of the therapy are essentially two:
control of hyperglycemia, prevention of the onset of complications.
Drug therapy involvesuse of insulin, metformin and some oral hypoglycemicscome i tiazolidinedioni.
What are the complications of LADA diabetes?
Definitive studies on complications are lacking. From a statistical point of view, however, the microvascular and macrovascular complicationseven if they are of normal weight and do not have metabolic syndrome.
Il cardiovascular risk is similar to that of type 2 diabetics but if this complication develops persistent hyperglycemia the risk may become greater.
The Ketoacidosis is a long-term complication of LADA diabetesparticularly after insulin dependence has arisen.