Diabetes Type 1.5 - Nomenclature

Nomenclature

LADA may be diagnosed using any of the following terms:

• latent autoimmune diabetes of adulthood
• late-onset autoimmune diabetes of adulthood
• latent autoimmune diabetes of aging
• slow onset type 1 diabetes, or
• type 1.5 (type one-and-a-half) diabetes

The Expert Committee on the Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus does not recognize the term LADA; rather, it includes LADA in the definition of Type 1 autoimmune diabetes. The National Institutes of Health (NIDDK) defines LADA as “a condition in which Type 1 diabetes develops in adults.” LADA is a genetically-linked, hereditary autoimmune disorder that results in the body mistaking the pancreas as foreign and responding by attacking and destroying the insulin-producing beta islet cells of the pancreas. Simply stated, autoimmune disorders, including LADA, are an "allergy to self.”