Scientists have unveiled a revised classification for the disease – one they said could lead to better treatments and help doctors more accurately predict life-threatening complications.
People with diabetes have excessively high blood glucose, or blood sugar, which comes from food. Currently, the disease is divided into two sub-types. It has long been known that type-2 diabetes is highly variable, but classification has remained unchanged for decades.
In the study reported in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology medical journal, researchers distinguished five distinct clusters of the disease – three serious and two milder forms.
Among the severe types, a group of patients with insulin resistence – in which cells are unable to use insulin effectively – was at far higher risk of kidney disease.
“This group has the most to gain from the new diagnostics as they are the ones who are currently most incorrectly treated,” Groop said.
Another group facing serious complications was composed of relatively young, insulin-deficient patients. The third “severe” group were people with auto-immune diabetes corresponding to the original “type-1” diagnosis.
The two other groups have milder types of the disease including one, which includes about 40 percent of the patients, beset with a form of diabetes related to advanced age.
“The outcome exceeded our expectations,” said Groop. The researchers plan to launch similar studies in China and India.
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Source: The Telegraph Online, 2 March 2018