In addition to a more refined classification, the researchers also discovered that the different groups are more or less at risk of developing various secondary diseases. Clusters 3 and 4 can be thought of as falling between the two extremes. As the name indicates, this type was recognised to affect older people, with milder symptoms.
And each comes with significantly different characteristics and risk of complications, they found.
In Type-2 diabetes, the body does not use the hormone insulin well and is unable to keep blood sugar at normal levels. To demonstrate their argument, they analyzed health data from almost 15,000 Swedish people with type 2 diabetes, focusing on six variables that had been measured and recorded at the time of their diagnosis: age, body mass index, the presence of beta-cell antibodies, level of metabolic control and measures of beta-cell function and insulin resistance.
The authors noted that more research is needed on the issue. It's an increasingly common disease; about 30 million people in the US have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Diabetes is now divided into type 1 diabetes (approximately 10%), type 2 diabetes (85-90%) and several less common diseases like latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA), maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY) and secondary diabetes. Researchers replicated the findings in three further independent cohorts: the Scania Diabetes Registry (n = 1,466), All New Diabetics in Uppsala (n = 844) and Diabetes Registry Vaasa (n = 3,485).
The research team wrote that doing so would allow doctors and health professionals to better tailor early treatment for patients - welcome news given the condition is rising at a rapid rate.
Severe insulin-deficient diabetes (SIDD): GADA-negative but otherwise similar to SAID.
Mild obesity-related diabetes includes obese patients but is less serious and includes people who fall ill at a relatively young age. Identified in 39% of the people in ANDIS.
A new study published yesterday in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinologyadvocates for a reclassification of adult-onset diabetes (or diabetes mellitus) into five separate categories, BBC reports.
The researchers observed that people in cluster 3 had a higher risk of kidney disease, while those in cluster 2 had higher risk of diabetic eye disease than people in other clusters.
They said it would be particularly suitable for patients with both diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
It has always been known that type-2 diabetes is highly variable, but classification has remained unchanged for decades.
The researchers believe their findings could help bring about a new age of personalised medicine for diabetes patients. The clusters and associated complications will need to be verified in other populations, including other ethnicities that may have a different risk of diabetes, such as Asian populations.