Treating young adults with Type 2 Diabetes or Monogenic Diabetes

Publication date: Available online 27 May 2016 Source:Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Author(s): Katharine R. Owen It is increasingly recognised that diabetes in young adults has a wide differential diagnosis. There are many monogenic causes, including monogenic beta-cell dysfunction, mitochondrial diabetes and severe insulin resistance. Type 2 diabetes in the young is becoming more prevalent, particularly after adolescence. It’s important to understand the clinical features and diagnostic tools available to classify the different forms of young adult diabetes. Classic type 1 diabetes is characterised by positive β-cell antibodies and absence of endogenous insulin secretion. Young type 2 diabetes is accompanied by metabolic syndrome with obesity, hypertension and dyslipidaemia. Monogenic β-cell dysfunction is characterised by non-autoimmune, C-peptide positive diabetes with a strong family history, while mitochondrial diabetes features deafness and other neurological involvement. Severe insulin resistance involves a young-onset metabolic syndrome often with a disproportionately low BMI. A suspected diagnosis of monogenic diabetes is confirmed with genetic testing, which is widely available in specialist centres across the world. Treatment of young adult diabetes is similarly diverse. Mutations in the transcription factors HNF1A and HNF4A and in the β-cell potassium ATP channel components cause diabetes which responds to ...
Source: Best Practice and Research Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism - Category: Endocrinology Source Type: research