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Is diabetes mellitus a continuous spectrum?
Barbara Brooks-Worrell1, Jerry P Palmer
1Department of Medicine, DVA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA 98108, USA. bbrooks@u.washington.edu
Background:
Diabetes mellitus has been historically divided into type 1 and type 2 diabetes, with type 1 being an autoimmune disease and type 2 being primarily a metabolic disease.
Content:
The current diabetes classification scheme needs to be reevaluated because of the accumulating evidence of immune system involvement in the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes.
Summary:
There are similarities and differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes with regard to pathogenesis, pathophysiology, and genetics. We propose a resolution to the dilemma of the current classification scheme.
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