{"id":11462,"date":"2011-12-02T03:12:29","date_gmt":"2011-12-02T03:12:29","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-12-02T03:12:08","modified_gmt":"2011-12-02T03:12:08","slug":"Cause-of-Diabetes-Misdiagnosis-among-Asian-Americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=11462","title":{"rendered":"Cause of Diabetes Misdiagnosis among Asian Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joslin Researchers Find Critical Diagnostic Marker for Differentiating Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in Young Asian Americans Plus Basis for Changes to Treatment Approaches for Type 2 Asian Patients<\/strong><\/p>\n

Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center have determined key differences between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in the Asian American population.<\/strong> This study, published today in PLoS ONE, identified ways to differentiate the types of diabetes, which can be clinically similar in young Asian Americans.<\/p>\n

During a pilot study of 30 healthy-weight diabetic and non-diabetic Asian Americans<\/strong>, the researchers proved that insulin resistance was consistently higher in those with type 2 diabetes, despite their normal body mass index (BMI).<\/p>\n

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\nDiabetes in Asian Americans is somewhat of a mystery.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dr. William Hsu<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Diabetes in Asian and Asian American populations is rising.<\/strong> China currently has the largest population of diabetics in the world, at 92 million, followed by India (50 million), compared to the United States\u2019 27 million.<\/strong> This study has identified reliable diagnostic tools for identifying type 2 diabetes, making correct diagnoses quicker. It has also identified critical physical differences in Asian patients with diabetes that should be considered in making recommendations for proper treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiabetes in Asian Americans is somewhat of a mystery,\u201d<\/strong> said Dr. William Hsu, first author on the study. Dr. Hsu and his colleagues have been working on the problem of diagnosing Asian and Asian American diabetes for more than a decade as part of the Asian American Diabetes Initiative at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.<\/p>\n

Caucasians with Type 2 diabetes are typically overweight, older, and have a strong family history of the disease. Caucasians with Type 1 diabetes usually present with the opposite characteristics. But, in many cases, Asian Americans with Type 2 diabetes are young and have a normal body weight, causing difficulties in differentiating the two types.<\/p>\n

There are also some differences in the presentation of Type 1 diabetes in Asian Americans<\/strong> \u2013 Caucasians show strong evidence of autoimmunity against beta cells, whereas Asian Americans only display less than 50 percent of time.<\/p>\n

This has led to a number of misdiagnoses within the Asian American community.<\/strong> Dr. Hsu and his colleagues sought to pinpoint unequivocal differences in the diseases that could allow for more accurate diagnoses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes all look very similar in phenotype , namely they\u2019re generally non-obese and with less evidence for autoimmunity, then we need to know whether the classic understanding of the physiology in type 1 and type 2 diabetes actually apply to this population. \u201d said Dr. Hsu.<\/p>\n

Using an insulin clamp, the most reliable method for measuring insulin resistance, the scientists saw that the subjects with type 2 diabetes had higher insulin resistance than those with type 1 or no diabetes at all. They also noted a correlation between insulin resistance and the levels of a protein, known as fatty acid-binding protein, suggesting that the two were connected. More study is needed to reveal whether or not targeting this protein could help treat insulin resistance.<\/p>\n

This study confirmed that insulin resistance is an important factor in normal-weight Asian Americans with type 2 diabetes, but raised the question of how to deal with it. Patients with type 2 diabetes are usually encouraged to lose weight, but losing weight isn\u2019t recommended for people in a normal BMI range.<\/p>\n

The researchers also found that Asian Americans with type 2 diabetes had a higher level of fat tucked away inside their torso, where it was not as visible. \u201cBad fats are hidden away,\u201d Dr. Hsu said. This indicates that while they might not be overweight, they are not in great physical shape.<\/p>\n

So, \u201cthe message needs to be modified,\u201d he said. \u201cNot that they necessarily need to lose weight; it should be \u2018let\u2019s get fit, let\u2019s exercise.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

The Joslin researchers also confirmed that when glucose levels are under control in Asian Americans with type 1 diabetes, they are not necessarily insulin resistant, providing further distinction between the two types of diabetes.<\/p>\n

This study was done as part of the Asian American Diabetes Initiative and the Dianne Nunnally Hoppes Laboratory for Diabetes Complications at Joslin Diabetes Center.<\/p>\n

About Joslin\u2019s Asian American Diabetes Initiative<\/p>\n

Asian American Diabetes Initiative (AADI) was founded in 2000 to enhance the quality of life and health outcomes for Asian Americans living with diabetes through research, education, outreach and culturally appropriate treatments.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit http\/\/:aadi.joslin.org <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joslin Researchers Find Critical Diagnostic Marker for Differentiating Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in Young Asian Americans Plus Basis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"colormag-highlighted-post":false,"colormag-featured-post-medium":false,"colormag-featured-post-small":false,"colormag-featured-image":false,"colormag-default-news":false,"colormag-featured-image-large":false,"colormag-elementor-block-extra-large-thumbnail":false,"colormag-elementor-grid-large-thumbnail":false,"colormag-elementor-grid-small-thumbnail":false,"colormag-elementor-grid-medium-large-thumbnail":false},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"Admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53e6cdc30765aade0129f85e5aeb50124b1d3f5bb9a70373be31e4eb328371e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Joslin Researchers Find Critical Diagnostic Marker for Differentiating Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in Young Asian Americans Plus Basis","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["News"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":124,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":4,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":false,"medium":false,"thumbnail":false},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"Admin","author_link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?author=1"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53e6cdc30765aade0129f85e5aeb50124b1d3f5bb9a70373be31e4eb328371e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"News<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}