Diabetes mellitus, type 2 ; Autoantibodies ; Child ; Adolescent
Abstract
PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate the differences in clinical characteristics and disease process between autoantibody-positive and -negative patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). METHODS: We investigated 162 patients diagnosed as DM between January 2000 and July 2009. 120 were classified as type 1 and 42 as type 2 DM. The clinical and laboratory data were obtained from medical records, retrospectively. RESULTS: The age at diagnosis, average BMI and serum C-peptide levels were significantly higher in type 2 DM patients than in type 1 DM patients. Type 2 DM patients had a significantly higher family history of diabetes and less frequent ketonuria. There were no significant differences between autoantibody-positive and -negative type 2 DM patients in age at diagnosis, BMI, C-peptide levels, HbA1c levels or family history. During the follow-up period, C-peptide levels were lower in the autoantibody-positive group than in the autoantibody-negative group, while. HbA1c levels were higher in the autoantibody-positive group. However, these differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: In autoantibody-positive type 2 DM patients, progressive loss of beta-cell function leads to reduced insulin secretion and poor glycemic control as the disease progresses, and some may be reclassified as slowly progressive type 1 DM. Ccntinued and careful follow-up is therefore needed