Type 1.5 diabetes, what is it? Which is often mistaken for type 2 by doctors. Diabetes is a special type of disease that very few people know about, and many doctors make mistakes in their diagnoses, which causes the disease to worsen. This type of diabetes is called LADA, or Type 1.5 diabetes.
In adults with latent autoimmune diabetes (LADA), defensive cells attack and kill cells that produce insulin. This type of diabetes has genetic, immunological, and metabolic characteristics similar to both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Jason Gaglia, an endocrinologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, USA, said that doctors often misdiagnose type 2 diabetes in patients with type 1.5 diabetes, which leads to months or years of delay in treatment and the disease persisting. The doctor said that 10% of patients with type 2 diabetes actually have type 1.5 diabetes.
Similarly, Kathleen Wyne, another endocrinologist at Ohio State University, said that type 1.5 diabetes can deceive doctors, and they misdiagnose type 2 diabetes in patients. Although type 1 diabetes also kills insulin-producing cells, it mostly occurs in children.
Diagnosing type 1 diabetes is difficult because the disease progresses slowly. Generally, patients with this disease are over 30 years old and do not need insulin injections for at least six months after diagnosis. However, due to misdiagnosis, most patients become dependent on insulin injections immediately and spend their entire lives on them.
This delay in the correct diagnosis of the disease also convinces other doctors that the patient has type 2 diabetes, and thus they start treating the wrong disease.