The Clinical Heterogeneity of Adult-Onset Diabetic Patients With GAD Autoantibodies in Japan
Response to Fukui et al.
- Eiji Kawasaki, MD1,
- Haruhiko Osawa, MD2,
- Hideichi Makino, MD2 and
- Ehime Diabetes Study Group
- 1Unit of Metabolism/Diabetes and Clinical Nutrition, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan
- 2Department of Laboratory Medicine, Ehime University School of Medicine, Ehime, Japan
We would like to thank Fukui et al. (1) for the interest in our article (2) and the editor for the opportunity to clarify the several points raised. As stated several times in our article, this is a cross-sectional and hospital-based study to investigate the clinical, autoimmune, and genetic characteristics in adult-onset diabetic patients with GAD antibodies (GADab). All diabetic patients who visited our hospital during 1998 and 1999, including those with typical type 1 diabetes (a slowly progressive form of type 1 diabetes [SPIDDM]) and type 2 diabetes, regardless of their therapy, were recruited into this study. In our Ehime Study, the overall prevalence of GADab in patients with adult-onset diabetes was 3.8%. Among them, the prevalence of GADab in patients with type 1 diabetes was 61% (72 of 118). The prevalence of GADab in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes was 2.0%, which …
