title: Diabetes in adolescent patients: diagnostic dilemmas.
abstract: The classification of diabetes mellitus by types (1 or 2), or by age of onset (juvenile or adult), helps to clarify many aspects of pathophysiology, prognosis, and therapy. However, less-commonly encountered patients, presenting in childhood or adolescence, may not fit neatly into one or the other group. These include teenagers who present with new-onset diabetes with ketoacidosis, but who are later able to be managed permanently as type 2 patients. Other adolescent patients present with only minimal glucose intolerance, then proceed to develop type 1 diabetes, with evidence of autoimmune etiology, after a variable number of years. Four patients are presented to illustrate these diagnostic dilemmas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Michigan State University and Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. brick@net-link.net
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Bricker
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Draznin
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Hare
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Greydanus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans