Types and Risk Factors of Diabetes
The following types of diabetes and some of their risk factors are quoted from the National Diabetes Fact Sheet: National estimates and general information on diabetes in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, 1997):
Type 1 diabetes was previously called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) or juvenile-onset diabetes. Type 1 diabetes may account for 5 percent to 10 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. Risk factors are less well defined for type 1 diabetes than for type 2 diabetes, but autoimmune, genetic, and environmental factors are involved in the development of this type of diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes was previously called non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset diabetes. Type 2 diabetes may account for about 90 to 95 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. Risk factors for type 2 diabetes includes older age, obesity, family history of diabetes, prior history of Gestational Diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, physical inactivity, and race/ethnicity. African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, and some Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are at particularly high risk for type 2 diabetes.
Gestational Diabetes develops in two to five percent of all pregnancies but usually disappears when a pregnancy is over. Gestational Diabetes occurs more frequently in African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, and people with a family history of diabetes than in other groups. Obesity is also associated with higher risk. Women who have had Gestational Diabetes are at increased risk for later developing type 2 diabetes. In some studies, nearly 40 percent of women with a history of Gestational Diabetes developed diabetes in the future.
Other specific types of diabetes result from specific genetic syndromes, surgery, drugs, malnutrition, infections, and other illnesses. Such types of diabetes may account for one to two percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes.
The causes of type 1 diabetes appear to be much different than those for type 2 diabetes, though the exact mechanisms for development of both diseases are unknown. The appearance of type 1 diabetes is suspected to follow exposure to an environmental trigger, such as an unidentified virus, stimulating an immune attack against the beta cells of the pancreas (that produce insulin) in some genetically predisposed people.
