Heterogeneity of Type 1 Diabetes at Diagnosis Supports Existence of Age-Related Endotypes

Previous findings suggest that there are age-related endotypes of type 1 diabetes with different underlying etiopathological mechanisms in those diagnosed at age <7 years compared with those diagnosed at age ≥13 years. We set out to explore whether variation in demographic, clinical, autoimmune, and genetic characteristics of children and adolescents with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes support the existence of these proposed endotypes.

We used data from the Finnish Pediatric Diabetes Register to analyze characteristics of 6,015 children and adolescents diagnosed with type 1 diabetes between 2003 and 2019. We described and compared demographic data, clinical characteristics at diagnosis, autoantibody profiles, and HLA class II-associated disease risk between three groups formed based on age at diagnosis: <7, 7-12, and ≥13 years.

We found significant age-related differences in most of the characteristics analyzed. Children diagnosed at age <7 years were characterized by a higher prevalence of affected first-degree relatives, stronger HLA-conferred disease susceptibility, and higher number of autoantibodies at diagnosis, in particular a higher frequency of insulin autoantibodies, when compared with older children. Those diagnosed at age ≥13 years had a considerably higher male preponderance, higher frequency of glutamic acid decarboxylase autoantibodies, longer duration of symptoms before diagnosis, and more severe metabolic decompensation, reflected, for example, by a higher frequency of diabetic ketoacidosis.

Our findings suggest that the heterogeneity of type 1 diabetes is associated with the underlying disease process and support the existence of distinct endotypes of type 1 diabetes related to age at diagnosis.