Abstract
To investigate the role of puberty on spontaneous clinical remission and on secretion of residual C-peptide during the first year of type 1 diabetes mellitus, we studied 77 pre-pubertal, 39 pubertal and 41 post-pubertal type 1 diabetic patients. Spontaneous partial clinical remission (HbA(1c) within the normal range and insulin dose less than 0.3 U·kg-1 body weight·day-1 lasting for at least 10 days) decreased with duration of diabetes: months 3 vs 6 vs 12, respectively 13 vs 7 vs 4% (P <0.025). Remission was higher in post-pubertal than pubertal and prepubertal patients: month 6 respectively 20 vs 5 vs 1% (P <0.001). Secretion of C-peptide was significantly lower in pre-pubertal than the other two groups of patients. Basal and stimulated C-peptide secretion were higher in patients in clinical remission than in those who were not: basal value 0.4 (0.26-0.53) vs 0.28 (0.14-0.4) nmol/l (P <0.05); stimulated value 0.63 (0.5-0.95) vs 0.56 (0.31-0.74) nmol/l (P <0.05). Spontaneous remission is less frequent in children and adolescent patients than in adult post-pubertal patients, but different mechanisms may be involved. Low residual insulin secretion seems implicated in children meanwhile low insulin sensitivity could be more important in pubertal patients.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 91-95 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Acta Diabetologica |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 1998 |
Keywords
- C-peptide
- Pubertal stage
- Remission
- Type 1 diabetes mellitus
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Endocrinology
- Internal Medicine
- Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism