So far the disease is classified as type 1 and type 2 diabetes; however, a new study reveals the existence of three more categories.
Scientists proposed a new classification of diabetes estimating that there are five different forms and not two as it is known today, which can according to them allow to refine the treatments.
Currently this disorder of assimilation of sugar by the body is classified into two categories.
Type 1 diabetes (about 10% of cases), which usually appears brutally in children or young adults, is characterized by an insufficient production of insulin. This hormone secreted by the pancreas allows to maintain the balance of the blood glucose rate.
Type 2 diabetes (almost 90% of cases) corresponds to a prolonged rise in the blood sugar rate, often associated with obesity and lifestyles (sedentary, unbalanced diet).
The authors of a Swedish study published by the specialized journal Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology propose to refine this classification by introducing five categories, three severe and two more benign.
"It is a first step towards the personalized treatment of diabetes (...). The current classification is not enough to predict the complications that may occur, "said one of the study's authors, Leif Groop, from Lund University.
To reach these five categories, the researchers analyzed the data of 13,720 patients since 2008, analyzing their insulin production , their blood sugar level or the age at which the disease appeared. And the researchers concluded that patients can be separated into the following groups.
Group 1: severe autoimmune diabetes. Broadly speaking, it is what is normally classified as type 1. It affects people when they are young and apparently healthy and is due to an autoimmune disease that makes insulin production impossible. As a result, there are not enough hormones to control the level of sugar in the blood.
Group 2: severe diabetes due to insulin deficiency. These patients are initially very similar to those in group 1 - they are also young, with apparently healthy weight and health - but have difficulty producing insulin. The difference is that there is no failure in the immune system but a defect in your beta cells, which "make" insulin. These patients have the highest risk of blindness .
Group 3: severe diabetes due to insulin resistance. Those who suffer in general are overweight and produce insulin but the body does not respond to the hormone. These patients have the highest risk of kidney disease.
Group 4: moderate diabetes related to obesity . Identified mainly in patients who are very overweight, but metabolically closer to normal values than those in group 3.
Group 5: moderate diabetes related to age. It is developed by patients who are significantly older than those of the other groups.
An adult of eleven in the world (425 million) has diabetes, that is 10 million more than in 2015, according to figures published in mid-November by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).