EVIDENCE FOR DIFFERENT CLINICAL SUBTYPES OF TYPE-1 DIABETES-MELLITUS - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the sex, age, sever ity of clinical presentation, presence of ICAs, IAs, and HLA-DR and DQ types could predict, in a cohort of newly-diagnosed diabetic children : (1) the duration of beta-cell function as measured by C-peptide resp onse to a Sustacal meal; and (2) determine if those predictors could i dentify disease subtypes. A cohort of 170 consecutive patients was fol lowed for 60 months after diagnosis. We found that age (0.0029), sex ( 0.0136), ICA (0.0001), presence of DKA (0.0070) and C-peptide peak at diagnosis (0.0000) significantly predicted the duration of residual be ta-cell function over time. Furthermore, C-peptide secretion at diagno sis, presence of ICA, age and sex allowed the identification of three different prognostic groups with varying acceleration of beta-cell los s.