March 10, 2001
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Beaufort, South Carolina, USA:
I am a 48 year old female recently diagnosed with what my diabetes team thinks might be “type 1.5” diabetes because of my symptoms and the fact that I am not obese. My A1c was 5.7%, and the results of my oral glucose tolerance test were: 269 mg/dl [14.9 mmol/L] at one hour, 259 mg/dl [14.4 mmol/L] at two hours, and 211 mg/dl [11.7 mmol/L] at three hours. Have you ever heard of type 1.5 diabetes?
Answer:
“Type 1.5” diabetes refers to Late-onset Autoimmune Diabetes of Adulthood (LADA), a form of autoimmune diabetes with a characteristically later date of onset than typical type 1 diabetes. Many of these individuals are over 30, are thin, have a steady fall in insulin secretion, and eventually need to be placed on insulin. Many times, patients have positive immune markers in the serum which can be measured by your doctor. Sounds like a possibility in your case.
JTL
