After you enjoy a meal or snack, your body breaks nutrients down into a sugar known as glucose and your pancreas releases insulin, a hormone that allows glucose to enter your body cells. If you have type 1 diabetes, your pancreas doesn't make enough insulin to match the amount of glucose you've ingested. If you have type 2 diabetes, your body doesn't produce or use insulin effectively. Either way, you end up with a high level of glucose in your blood. Latent autoimmune diabetes of adults is a fairly new classification that combines elements of both type 1 and type 2, says The Diabetes Monitor.
Other Names
Latent autoimmune diabetes of adults is also known as type 1.5 diabetes, late-onset autoimmune diabetes of adulthood or slow-onset diabetes, according to The Diabetes Monitor. It can be abbreviated as LADA.
Antibodies
LADA is an autoimmune disorder, which means people with this type of diabetes generally produce antibodies that attack the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, according to Action LADA.
Insulin Dependency
People with type 1 diabetes need insulin injections because their bodies are insulin-dependent. Those with type 2 diabetes can still produce insulin, so they may be treated with oral medications that stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin. If you have LADA, your body will initially produce insulin when you take oral medications. However, The Diabetes Monitor explains, you'll gradually become insulin-dependent, often over a period of months.
Insulin Resistance
People with type 2 diabetes are described as insulin-resistant, meaning that they don't effectively use the insulin produced in the pancreas. If you have LADA, however, you are not insulin-resistant, according to The Diabetes Monitor.
Classification
According to Islets of Hope, LADA is a sub-set of type 1 diabetes, but it is often misdiagnosed as type 2 diabetes because of the initial positive response to oral diabetes medicines.
Family History
Many people with type 2 diabetes have a family history of the disease, but people with LADA aren't likely to have that same history.
Appearance
If you have LADA, you are probably slender and physically fit. People with type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, are often overweight, says Diabetes Net.
Age at Diagnosis
According to Islets of Hope, LADA is usually diagnosed in adults over the age of 25 years. Diabetes Net says about 15 to 20 percent of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes actually have LADA.
Treatment
According to The Diabetes Monitor, many experts prescribe insulin as soon as LADA is diagnosed, rather than continuing to recommend oral diabetes medications.
Complications
If you do have LADA and control your blood glucose levels, your risk of cardiovascular problems is lower than that of people with type 2 diabetes.
