Diabetes ‘is FIVE different diseases’ not two, doctors discover
DIABETES is five different diseases, not two, experts have discovered.
The findings could lead to more personalised treatments for sufferers, scientists said.
And it could help doctors identify which patients are most likely to suffer nasty complications, including going blind, in the early stages.
Currently there are two types of diabetes - both of which cause a person's blood sugar levels to become too high.
Type 1 diabetes is where the body's immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin - a key hormone that helps break down sugar.
Meanwhile, type 2 is more common accounting for around 90 per cent of diabetes cases in the UK.
It's linked to obesity and lifestyle factors, and is where the body doesn't produce enough insulin, or the body doesn't react to insulin.
But now, a team of scientists in Sweden and Finland have identified five clusters of patients with diabetes.
And each comes with significantly different characteristics and risk of complications, they found.
"This new substratification might eventually help to tailor and target early treatments to patients who would benefit most, thereby representing a first step towards precision medicine in diabetes," the researchers said.
HEALTH CHECK What's the difference between type 1 and 2 diabetes - and what are the signs you could be at risk?
They found cluster 3 was most resistant to insulin, and had significantly higher risk of diabetic kidney disease than those in clusters 4 and 5.
Cluster 2 had the highest risk of retinopathy, which can cause blindness.
The team analysed data on newly diagnosed patients from the Swedish All New Diabetics in Scania cohort, to arrive at their findings.
The findings could prove important to the 3.7million people diagnosed with diabetes currently in the UK.
Millions more are thought to have prediabetes, or blood sugar levels that are above the normal range but not yet high enough to be classified as diabetic.
If you have signs of prediabetes, it's important to see your GP immediately.
Common warning signs include:
- feeling very thirsty
- peeing more regularly, especially at night
- feeling really tired
- weight loss and loss of muscle bulk
- itching around the penis or vagina, frequent bouts of thrush
- cuts or wounds than take ages to heal
- blurry vision
Type 1 diabetes, which is a serious lifelong condition that typically requires insulin injections or pump, can develop quickly over a matter of weeks, even days.
In contrast, people can live with type 2 diabetes for years without realising it, but the condition can be reversed by adopting a more healthy lifestyle, and losing weight.
The new findings are published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours