Lada or Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus - A Challenging Diagnosis in Clinical Approach

Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) is a frequently encountered condition in medical practice. It should be suspected in patients where the type of the diabetes mellitus is not certain. LADA consists of features from both type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), being a condition which is often unnoticed. Considered as type 1.5 diabetes mellitus, the lack of insulin requirement at disease onset makes it initially to be included in T2DM in terms of therapeutic management. The improvement of the screening methods allows the detection of LADA at an early stage, therefore medical intervention should be effective in preserving beta-cell function and to delay the progression of the disease.