Type 2 Diabetes Has 3 Distinct Types: Study

People with Type 2 diabetes can be divided into a few distinct groups, with three different types of the metabolic condition, a new study finds.

For the study, researchers tracked about 2,500 people with Type 2 diabetes, examining their genetic makeup, health and symptoms. They found there are actually three groups of people with the condition, each with a different set of problems associated with the disease, LiveScience reports.

"There are statistically meaningful differences between patients," said lead researcher Joel Dudley, director of biomedical informatics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

About 29 million Americans have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nine in 10 have Type 2, in which the body is unable to produce insulin or use it efficiently, leading to high levels of sugar in the blood.

Dudley’s team found:

•    Patients in one group of diabetics (which the researchers called subtype 1) were younger, with a higher risk of obesity, kidney disease, and the eye problems that can lead to blindness. They also had lower white blood cell counts.
•    A second group (subtype 2) showed a greater risks for cancer and heart disease, but were less likely to be obese.
•    The third group (subtype 3) had higher risks for heart disease, as well as mental illness and allergies.

If more research confirms the findings, they could help doctors offer their patients more specific ways to manage their conditions.

"If you're in the high-cancer-risk group, maybe I'm cutting in half the time between [cancer] screenings," Dudley said.