False diagnosis Diabetes type 1 or type 2? This rare diabetes form could be behind it

diabetes is widespread in Germany. Loud Diabetes network Germanyone side funded by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), currently live here Seven million diabetics – and the number of sick people increases. Every year « more than 500,000 adults are added with a new diagnosis, » writes Diabetes Network. According to the BMG, the number of disease also increases Children and adolescents. However, misdiagnoses can also occur.

False diagnosis type 1 or type 2 diabetes? It could be mody diabetes

Is it about diabetes In particular, type 2 can be found frequently. Around 93 percent of people with diabetes According to the diabetes information portal, suffer diabinfo.de on this form of the disease. Also one of the main forms Type 1 diabeteseven if it appears much less frequently at about six percent. This shape becomes that BMG according to mostly in childhood and adolescence and is so far not curable.

But in addition to type 1 and Type 2 diabetes there are many more Forms of diabetes. This also includes mody diabetes. The abbreviation is according to the German diabetes help For « Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young » – in German, « adult diabetes that appear in young people ».

In the register for the diabetes-patient gradient documentation (DPV register), mody only makes up about 0.2 percent of all diabetes cases in children, adolescents and adults. Like the researchers around Stefanie Lanzinger from the University of Ulm in one Mody diabetes studythe 2024 in Journal of Diabetes With the title « Clinical Characteristics, Treatment, and Treatment Switch After Molecular-Genetic Classification in individuals with maturity-on diabetes of the young: Insights from the Multicenter Real-World DPV Registry », the number of unreported cases is probably higher. One reason: according to the study authors, mody diabetes is often incorrectly Type 1 or type 2 diabetes diagnosed and treated accordingly. We have with children’s endocrinologist and diabetologist Dr. med. Constanze Lämmer from the Augsburg Children’s and Youth Clinic Josefinum talked about the disease.

What is mody diabetes and how often does it appear?

Mody diabetes is one genetically related diabetes form. The disease is inherited autosomally – means: « Mody appears in a family frequently, » explains Lämmer. “If a parent has a mody, the risk for the child is also 50 percent of the child. Daughter and Sons the same size.  » If diabetes occurs in a family over three generations and the symptoms do not match type 1 or type 2 diabetes, should therefore be « thought of mody when diagnosed, » says the doctor.

The disease arises from various gene changes that cause a disturbance in the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, the so-called beta cells. As a result, less insulin produced and the Blood sugar levels rise. So far, 14 gene changes have been discovered in connection with the metabolic disease, i.e. 14 mody types. They are now named according to the individual changed gene that leads to the disease:

Li): Relative List-None (&> Li): PL- (1.2EM) (&> Li): Marker: Text- (0) (&> Li): Relative (&> Li): Before: Absolute (&> Li): Before: W-3 (&> Li): Before: H-3 (&> Li): Before: BG-fire (& Li): Before: LEFT-0 (&> Li): Before: Top- (8px) (&> Li): Before: Rounded-Full My-5 « >
• HNF4A (formerly moder 1)
• GCK (formerly moder 2)
• HNF1A (formerly mody 3)
• PDX1 (formerly mody 4)
• HNF1B (formerly mody 5)
• Neurod1 (formerly mody 6)
• KLF11 (formerly mody 7)
• CEL (formerly moder 8)
• PAX4 (formerly moder 9)
• In (formerly moder 10)
• Blk (formerly mody 11)
• ABCC8 (formerly mody 12)
• KCNJ11 (formerly mody 13)
• Appl1 (formerly mody 14)

According to Lämmer, it cannot be ruled out that over time, further gene changes and thus new mody types will be found. Nevertheless, all forms of the disease have one thing in common: the insulin release is disturbed due to the change in the beta cells.

According to Lämmen, the earlier mody types 3, 2, 1 and 5 are most common. With only 0.2 percent in the DPV register, mody diabetes are still rather rare. But: In reality, the number of those affected is significantly higher. Lämmer assumes that one to five percent of all diabetics have a mody. These numbers also give diabinfo.de.

At what age does moderate diabetes appear?

According to the mody diabetes study, the adult diabetes in young people typically appear in younger people before the age of 25. However, exactly when the disease breaks out depends on different factors, including the mody form. Based on the last evaluation of the DPV register, Lämmer explains that GCK mody, the second most common form, is determined on average at 9.9 years. KCNJ11 mody, a rather rare shape, on the other hand, diagnosed on average at 14.3 years. It is important: « The genetic predisposition already exists at birth. Nevertheless, mody is determined at different times in life, » says Lämmer.

But why is that and can you counteract an emergence at all-as with type 2 diabetes? Jein. Since mody diabetes are a genetically inherited disease, nothing can be done against the assessment. However, when mody breaks out depends on environmental factors, says Lämmer. Regular exercise and a healthy diet can therefore have an impact on the time of the outbreak of illness – and also on the extent of the metabolic disorder.

Mody diabetes do not have to appear in childhood or adolescence. In women, for example, the disease can only be pregnancy show, says the endocrinologist. This is related to the hormone change that the body goes through during this time. There is no similarly significant life event that can lead to the outbreak. « Women are not necessarily affected, but men don’t get pregnant and the hormones make a big difference, » explains Lämmer.

Mody diabetes: What is the difference to type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes?

According to the Ulm Mody Diabetes Study, mody is often incorrectly diagnosed as type 1 diabetes due to the early beginning of illness and the lack of typical references to type 2 diabetes. In the study, 27.6 percent of the 1640 participants with mody initially received a different diabetes diagnosis. 71.8 percent of this was certified by type 1 diabetes. As a result, according to the study authors, false treatment can initially occur. How can you distinguish type 1 and type 2 diabetes from mody diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes kicks out loud healthy.bund.de usually only at older age. The metabolic disease means that sugar accumulates in the blood and the body cells are able to absorb and use insulin. The hormone is actually responsible for transporting sugar into the muscle cells, explains Lämmer. However, if the memory are not emptied through sports or movement, « more insulin is released to press the sugar into the muscles with ‘reprinting’, » says the endocrinologist. « In return, the receptor on the muscle becomes insensitive, so resistant. » The insulin resistance then usually leads from strong Overweight to type 2 diabetes. For treatment is enough healthy.bund.de Often a lifestyle with more exercise and a change in diet, other people affected are dependent on antiabetic or insulin.

Type 1 diabetes On the other hand, genetic is due and an autoimmune disease in which the body’s tissue-in this case the beta cells-is attacked, explains Lämmer. As a result, the insulin -producing cells are destroyed and the body can no longer produce the hormone itself. Those affected must therefore inject insulin their lives.

Typical symptoms in type 1 and type 2 diabetes include loud healthy.bund.de increased urge to urinate, strong thirst, fatigue, weakness in the drive, nausea and dizziness. If the blood sugar level is very increased, there may be consciousness disorders up to the diabetic coma. This also applies to mody diabetes.

The diabetes symptoms « are often very unspecific, » explains Lämmer. Nevertheless, a delimitation is possible. In contrast to type 2 diabetes, people with mody are loud diabinfo.de As a rule, not overweight and their values ​​for fat metabolism and blood pressure are usually in the normal range. And unlike type 1 diabetes, no autoantibodies can be demonstrated against the beta cells during a blood test in mody. « If, after a long time of illness, your own insulin continues to be detectable, » the diagnosis should be rolled up again, explains Lämmer. In addition, with type 1 diabetes, ketoacidosis, i.e. a potentially life-threatening overacidification, can only occur, but not with mody diabetes.

A genetic examination is carried out to diagnose moder. For this purpose, a blood sample is tested for the corresponding genetic defects. If a gene proves to be changed, in addition to the mody diagnosis, it is also clear which of the 14 forms is available. Since this examination is a comparatively expensive procedure, genetic diagnostics diabinfo.de often only carried out if there is a reasoned suspicion.