<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Our current clinical doctrine and practice is based upon a classification of diabetes which relies mainly on some clinical manifestations/criteria, rather than markers of the pathophysiological mechanisms of the disease. An improved classification based on such biological markers (i.e. of insulin resistance, beta cell dysfunction, autoimmunity) may assist in clinical decision and may offer the opportunity of an optimized therapeutic strategy. We address here some important questions that have not yet been clarified, e.g. which markers/indicators best define the main pathogenic mechanisms of the disease in a patient with diabetes and what threshold values are relevant for this purpose.</p></abstract>

Our current clinical doctrine and practice is based upon a classification of diabetes which relies mainly on some clinical manifestations/criteria, rather than markers of the pathophysiological mechanisms of the disease. An improved classification based on such biological markers (i.e. of insulin resistance, beta cell dysfunction, autoimmunity) may assist in clinical decision and may offer the opportunity of an optimized therapeutic strategy. We address here some important questions that have not yet been clarified, e.g. which markers/indicators best define the main pathogenic mechanisms of the disease in a patient with diabetes and what threshold values are relevant for this purpose.

Diabetes mellitus: in search of an improved classification and treatment algorithm

1. Division of Internal Medicine IV, Department M3, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Târgu Mureş, Romania

2. Diabetes, Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases, Emergency County Clinical Hospital, Târgu Mureş, Romania

3. Diabetes Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, Hadassah Hebrew University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel

Revista Romana de Medicina de Laborator

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Our current clinical doctrine and practice is based upon a classification of diabetes which relies mainly on some clinical manifestations/criteria, rather than...

Diabetes mellitus: in search of an improved classification and treatment algorithm

Published Online: Mar 19, 2016

Page range: 9 - 20

Received: Oct 21, 2015

Accepted: Dec 15, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/rrlm-2016-0001

Keywords
diabetes mellitus, classification, biological markers, pathophysiologic mechanisms

© 2016 Simona Cernea et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Diabetes mellitus: in search of an improved classification and treatment algorithm

Published Online: Mar 19, 2016

Page range: 9 - 20

Received: Oct 21, 2015

Accepted: Dec 15, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/rrlm-2016-0001

Keywordsdiabetes mellitus, classification, biological markers, pathophysiologic mechanisms

© 2016 Simona Cernea et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
diabetes mellitus, classification, biological markers, pathophysiologic mechanisms