Study on prevalence of latent autoimmune diabetes in adults and its relationship with metabolic syndrome

Abstract

To investigate the prevalence, clinical features of latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) from phenotypic type 2 diabetic patients and the relationship between LADA and metabolic syndrome (MS). Sera from 1711 phenotypic type 2 diabetic patients were screened for glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody (GAD-Ab) and protein tyrosine phosphatase antibody (IA2-Ab) through radioligand assay. The prevalence of LADA and its relation with clinical features were analyzed. (1) The prevalence of LADA in phenotypic type 2 diabetic patients was 6.7% (115/1711), the positive frequency of GAD-Ab and IA2-Ab was 6.0% and 2.4% respectively. (2) The prevalence of LADA from phenotypic type 2 diabetic patients with a duration of diabetes less than 1 year which was much higher than that of patients with a duration over 1 year (10.4% vs 5.9%, P < 0.01). (3) The prevalence of LADA was higher in patients with younger age at onset, lower body mass index and lower level of postprandial C peptide and without diabetes family history. (4) 51.3% of LADA patients were suffered from at least one kind of metabolic disorders besides hyperglycemia, 21.7% of them were with MS. The prevalence from high to low of those metabolic disorders were as follows: hypertension, dyslipidemia, overweight/obesity. (1) 6.7% of phenotypic type 2 diabetic patients were LADA, of whom early diagnosis of diabetic type should be made to guide clinical therapies. (2) More than 1/5 patients with MS were found in LADA patients, indicating an overall screening and intervention of metabolic disorder factors is important in LADA patients.