CALORIMETRY IN MEDICINE

Abstract

While the awareness of Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adults (LADA) is growing, many of these individuals are still misdiagnosed as having Type II diabetes mellitus. Even though current treatment patterns may be similar, an autoimmune etiology may require a paradigm shift in the treatment protocol utilized for these patients. Biologic agents used against Rheumatoid Arthritis have also been proved to be effective against diabetes mellitus. The growing number of peer-reviewed articles in the professional literature is an indication of how individuals in the scholastic arena are expanding in the current body of knowledge. By dissemination of best practices, other health care practitioners can learn about the specific needs of this specific subgroup of patients with diabetes. The purpose of the literature review conducted here was to describe the status of the peer-reviewed literature over the past decade pertaining to LADA and raise awareness on biologic agent treatment methods that may be more appropriate than what is currently utilized. A literature search was conducted using the Cochrane, Medline, and PubMed daases. Inclusion criteria included publication date from January 1, 2006 through July 31, 2015, written in the English language, and a focus on Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adults as the primary discipline. Diabetes was searched as an overarching discipline; articles focused on sub-disciplines or other health professions disciplines were excluded. The search resulted in 235 articles. Each of the authors reviewed the abstracts for all articles and read full articles when necessary. The result was 10 articles that were then considered in depth. The articles were categorized according to their primary theme: interventions (N=2); pathophysiology (N=3); case study (N=2); LADA versus Type II Diabetes (N=3). Year of publication and journal were also examined. The results of the literature search lead to several observations about how the peer-reviewed literature has been used to date and how it could be used to advance the emerging field of diagnosis and treatment of LADA. Additionally, the autoimmune component of LADA could be used to change scientists’ thinking about Type 2 Diabetes as well.