Type 1.5 Diabetes Controversy, These are Facts You Need to Know

Liputan6.com, Jakarta Diabetes as we know it generally falls into two categories: type 1 and type 2. In type 1 diabetes, antibodies from your own immune system destroy insulin-producing cells.

The disease starts suddenly and is usually diagnosed in children. Type 2 diabetes most often develops in adults as a result of insulin resistance (your cells don’t use insulin properly), not insulin production.

But in reality, diabetes is much more complicated, and can manifest in at least one other form, which is often referred to as type 1.5.

Reported from Health.comPing H. Wang, MD, chair of the department of diabetes, endocrinology, and metabolism at the City of Hope in Duarte, California mentions type 1.5 diabetes has characteristics of type 1 and type 2.

Like type 1 diabetes, type 1.5 has an autoimmune component, meaning antibodies from your immune system mistakenly destroy the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. Insulin is a hormone needed to remove blood sugar from the bloodstream and into cells. Without it, glucose accumulates in the blood, leading to potentially life-threatening complications.

Unlike type 1, type 1.5 does not have to be treated immediately with insulin, and is generally diagnosed in younger adults, not children. This makes it more like type 2, as does the fact that its development is much more gradual than type 1, says John B. Buse, MD, PhD, chief of endocrinology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine at Chapel Hill.

While type 1 diabetes is primarily a problem of insulin production and type 2 one of insulin resistance, type 1.5 seems to cover both problems.

“This is a term used to describe patients who have some degree of decreased insulin production due to decreased pancreatic beta cell function. Patients with type 1.5 diabetes are able to produce some insulin, but not enough insulin, and over time they may not produce insulin at all.” explains Deena Adimoolam, MD, an endocrinologist and preventive medicine specialist in New Jersey.

But you should note that type 1.5 is not a medical term and some experts still object to its use. The term can describe Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY), a genetic condition that occupies another gray area between type 1 and type 2. that condition.

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