It is interesting that everyone who develops raised blood glucose in later life is given the label ‘type 2 diabetes’, as if a single biochemical result means a single disease process.

Anyone who has looked after people with this label knows that they can follow completely different clinical courses.

Using data from 5250 patients in the Tayside Genetics of Diabetes Audit and Research database, researchers found that faster progression was independently associated with younger age at diagnosis, higher log triacylglyceride concentrations (hazard ratio 1.28 per mmol/L, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.42), and lower high density lipoproteins (0.70 per mmol/L, 0.55 to 0.87).

The researchers also note that “genetic factors that predispose to diabetes are different from those that cause rapid progression of diabetes suggesting a difference in biological process that needs further investigation.”

Reference

 Diabetes Care 2013, doi:10.2337/dc13-1995