The clinical diagnosis of diabetes mellitus is based on specific criteria of blood glucose concentrations [1]. After diagnosis of the disease, clinical criteria are used to classify diabetes into Type I (insulin-dependent) or Type II (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. The classification of diabetes is mostly unambiguous in people younger than 20 years of age and in older patients who predominately have Type II diabetes. It is widely recognised, however, that Type I diabetes can develop at any age which complicates classification in the older patient. Type I diabetes in children and young adults is strongly associated with the presence of autoantibodies against the Mr 65 kD isoform of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD65) [2] and IA-2 (ICA512), a tyrosine phosphatase-like transmembrane protein [3,4]. The diagnostic sensitivity of GAD65Ab has been reported to be about 70±80 % and the diagnostic specificity 99 % in such patients [5]. Furthermore, in newly diagnosed Type Diabetologia (1999) Results. We found 23 of 2157 (1.1 %) and 17 of 2152 (0.8 %) subjects exceeded the 99th centile of GAD65 autoantibody index and IA-2 autoantibody index, respectively. In 18 subjects with diabetic oral glucose tolerance test, GAD65 autoantibody concentrations were higher than in those with normal oral glucose tolerance test (p = 0.02). Subjects with IGT (n = 416) and diabetes (n = 18), i. e. abnormal OGTT (n = 434), had a higher IA-2Ab index compared with those with normal OGTT (p = 0.008). A stepwise multiple logistic regression test showed that the odds ratios for subjects in the highest BMI group to exceed the 95th or 99th GAD65 autoantibody centile were 3.6 (CI 1.4±8.9) and 17.6 (CI 2.6±121.6), respectively. Conclusion/interpretation. GAD65 and IA-2 autoantibodies, are associated with impaired or diabetic glucose tolerance in an adult regional population. This observation together with the association between GAD65 autoantibody concentrations and body mass index indicate a possible relation between islet autoimmunity and beta-cell function abnormalities with obesity and insulin resistance. [Diabetologia (1999)