1995 Volume 38 Issue 5 Pages 341-346
We assayed antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), a known diagnostic and predictive marker for type I diabetes, in 114 insulin-treated patients initially diagnosed with NIDDM, and examined the clinical characteristics of these antibody-positive subjects. The overall prevalence of GAD antibodies was 16.7%(19/114). When the patients were classified according to postprandial serum C-peptide levels (more or less than 1.0ng/ml) into non insulin deficient group and an insulin-deficient group, the prevalence of GAD antibodies in the insulin deficient group (35.9%; 14/39) was significantly higher than in the non-insulin-deficient group (6.7%; 6/75). ICA was detected in 12 (63.2%) of the 19 GAD antibody-positive patients. Furthermore, the patients with GAD antibodies exhibited clinical features of type I diabetes, characterized by a shorter duration until insulin theraphy, lower body mass index and lower insulin secretion. These results suggest that GAD antibodies are useful marker for detecting type I diabetes in patients intially diagnosed with NIDDM.
