Investigating New Diabetes in Young Adults – MM1607
Distinguishing type 1 and type 2 diabetes in young adults is becoming difficult given the increase in obesity in this age group and deviation of cases from recognised phenotypes. Patients presenting with hyperglycaemia and ketosis should be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and regarded as insulin deficient. Further management should be supervised by an endocrinologist. The presence of autoantibodies confirms the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. The absence of autoantibodies does not exclude the diagnosis as up to 5% of patients with type 1 diabetes may be negative for autoantibodies. There is an increasing overlap between type 1 and type 2 diabetes despite their differing aetiologies.
Modern Medicine – July 2016
