title: Clinical characteristics of patients with the initial diagnosis of NIDDM with positivity for antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase.
abstract: The measurement of islet cell antibodies (ICA) and antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD-Ab) is clinically useful in evaluating patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Our objective was to correlate the clinical characteristics of patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) who exhibited positivity for GAD-Ab vs. patients who were negative for this enzyme. The serum level of GAD-Ab was measured by radiobinding assay (RBA) using pig brain GAD. The prevalence of GAD-Ab in the 181 patients was low; the 8 involved subjects (4.4%) were all females. The NIDDM patients who were GAD-Ab-positive were significantly younger, experienced diabetes onset at an early age, had a shorter duration of diabetes, a shorter interval between diabetes onset to initiation of insulin therapy, a lower body mass index (BMI), a lower serum C-peptide value, and required a higher dose of insulin. A higher proportion of the GAD-Ab-positive patients was receiving insulin therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinical characteristics of patients with NIDDM who were positive for GAD-Ab differed significantly from those of the patients negative for GAD-Ab. The profile of the GAD-Ab-positive patients with NIDDM resembled that of those with IDDM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Koshigaya Hospital, Dokkyo University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inukai
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tayama
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aso
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogino
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takemura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002096:C-Peptide / Q000097:blood; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D002096:C-Peptide; D007328:Insulin; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase