Diabetes Out-of-the-Box: Diabetes Mellitus and Impairment in Hearing and Vision.

Abstract

This review aims to provide an update on the etiologies of diabetes that are due to genetic disorders and that co-occur with impaired hearing or vision and to compare them. The potential mechanisms, including novel treatments, will be detailed. Wolfram syndrome, Kearns-Sayre syndrome, thiamine-responsive megaloblastic anemia, and maternally inherited diabetes and deafness are genetic disorders characterized by diabetes, impaired hearing, and vision. They differ in mode of inheritance, age at presentation, and the involvement of other organs; they are often misdiagnosed as type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Suspicion of a genetic diabetes syndrome should be raised when pancreatic autoantibodies are negative, other organs are involved, and family history includes diabetes. Correct diagnosis of the various syndromes is important for tailoring the most advanced treatment, preventing disease progression, and enabling proper genetic counseling.