Statement of all funding sources: BMBF Kompetenznetz Diabetes mellitus (FKZ 01GI1106); DZD; EFSD, BMBF Kompetenznetz Adipositas (FKZ01GI1130)Conflicts of interest The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.Key words: double diabetes, T1DM, diabetes mellitus type 1, insulin resistance, diabetic nephropathy, macroangiopathy, microangiopathy, coronary heart disease, LADA Novelty statement: The outlined paper analyzes 392 diabetes centers with 31119 patients with autoimmune diabetes for the prevalence and comorbidities of double diabetes. We could show for the first time that insulin requirement or insulin resistance is an independent risk factor for patients with type 1 diabetes and that even in well controlled diabetes an additional metabolic syndrome is a major risk factor for developing macrovascular as well as microvascular complications. Aim of this cross sectional study is to better estimate the prevalence of MS in T1DM, and to assess its association with comorbidities.
AbbreviationsMethods: Data of 31119 persons with autoimmune diabetes mellitus were analyzed for signs of MS and presence of late complications. Double diabetes was defined as T1DM coexisting with MS (obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia). Multiple linear or logistic regression analyses were performed to identify associations between double diabetes and late complications.Results: 25.5% (n=7926) of persons with T1DM presented additionally the MS. Persons with double diabetes showed significantly more macrovascular comorbidities (coronary heart disease 8.0 versus 3.0% w/o MS, stroke 3.6 versus 1.6%, diabetic foot syndrome 5.5% versus 2.1%).Also microvascular diseases were increased in people with double diabetes (retinopathy 32.4% versus 21.7%, nephropathy 28.3% versus 17.8%). Both macrovascular and microvascular comorbidities were increased independent of glucose control, even if patients with good metabolic control (HbA1c <7.0%, 53mmol/mol) showed significantly less macrovascular (coronary heart disease 2.3% versus 1.8%, p<0.0001) and microvascular problems (retinopathy 8.7% versus 6.6%, p<0.0001).Conclusions: Double diabetes seems to be an independent and important risk factor for persons with T1DM in developing macrovascular and microvascular comorbidities. Therefore, patients should be identified and development of MS should be avoided. Longtermstudies are needed to observe the effect of insulin resistance on patients with autoimmune diabetes.