All illnesses and physical conditions that, if not treated, lead to an excess of sugars in the blood (hyperglycemia), are defined “diabetes mellitus” (or ‘diabetes’). ?

Type 2 Diabetes

The most frequent form of diabetes, type 2 diabetes, generally manifests itself after 40 years of age, especially in overweight/obese persons. Its evolution is slow and without symptoms. Little by little, the person loses his/her capacity to control the balance of his/her glycaemia. It is commonly known as the ‘diabetes of the elderly,’’ nutritional diabetes,’ or with the abbreviation DM2 or T2DM. It is by far the most common form, with millions of cases in Italy.?

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is a very different condition. It manifests itself especially before 40 years of age, in a sudden way and with increasingly more apparent symptoms. In type 1 diabetes, a self-immune reaction destroys the beta cells that produce insulin in the pancreas. Cases in Italy are numbered around many tens of thousands. It is also known with the abbreviation DM1 or T1DM.?

Gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes is a temporary form of diabetes that characterizes a percentage of pregnancies. Starting from the second quarter, gestation of the mother is not able to keep the glycaemia under control. This type of diabetes, which characterizes a significant number of pregnancies, seems to disappear after child delivery. It is also named gestational diabetes or GDM.?

Other forms of diabetes

Other forms of diabetes exist, so-called ‘intermediate’ between type 1 and type 2, such as LADA or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (which arises in the second half of one’s life, like type 2 diabetes, but soon evolves into a complete insulin-dependency, like type 1 diabetes), and MODY or Maturity-Onset Diabetes of the Young, a category of very different conditions, generally present in certain family groups. The diabetes may be secondary (in other words, caused by another illness or by a therapy or an accident).