Increased cardiovascular risk in people with LADA in comparison to type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes: Findings from the DPV registry in Germany and Austria.

Introduction: We aimed to characterise and compare individuals diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D), latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) and type 2 diabetes (T2D), in a real-world setting.

Methods: Anthropometric and clinical data from 36 959 people with diabetes diagnosed at age 30-70 years enrolled in the prospective diabetes patients follow-up (DPV) registry from 1995 to 2022 were analysed cross-sectionally at diagnosis and follow-up (≥6 months after diagnosis). LADA was defined as clinical diagnosis of T2D, positivity of ≥1 islet autoantibody and an insulin-free interval of ≥6 months upon diabetes diagnosis.

Results: At diagnosis, age, body mass index, waist circumference, C-peptide and HbA1c in people with LADA (n = 747) fell in between individuals with T1D (n = 940) and T2D (n = 35 272) (all p-values < 0.01). At follow-up, after adjusting for age, sex and diabetes duration, the prevalence of dyslipidemia and hypertension was the highest in people with LADA (90.6%, 77.7%) compared to people with T2D (81.8%, 60.4%) and T1D (75.7%, 39.7%) (p < 0.01). The prevalence of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) was higher in LADA (44.2%), than in T1D (19.9%) (p < 0.01). The prevalence of peripheral neuropathy was higher in individuals with LADA (55.1%) than in T2D (43.9%) and T1D (42.1%) (p < 0.05). Coverage of treatment for hypertension and dyslipidemia were 22.4% and 15.0% in T1D, 63.0% and 36.6% in LADA and 29.4% and 18.2% in T2D.

Conclusion: People with LADA had a higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (dyslipidemia, hypertension) and cardiovascular complications (DKD and peripheral neuropathy), suggesting that people with LADA are at need for improved recognition and care.