The Newly Identified Type 3c Diabetes Is Being Wrongfully Diagnosed

There are two types of diabetes mellitus you must have heard of, type 1 and type 2. But surprisingly there is a third type of diabetes which has been around but you were not aware of it. And what's worse, doctors also end up misdiagnosing it as type 2 diabetes. The third type of diabetes, know as type 3c diabetes or "Diabetes of the Exocrine Pancreas". This one is caused by pancreatic damage and requires a treatment completely different from type 2 diabetes.

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Experts reveal that ineffective treatment can lead to high blood sugar levels in the patient leading to worsening of conditions.

Other forms of diabetes other than type 1 and type 2 had been identified by scientist's long back. In 2008, type 3c diabetes was a matter of concern for scientists as they believed that type 3c is being under and misdiagnosed. To add to this concern, a new study published in the Diabetes Care journal further gave an evidence to prove this on the basis of a search program they conducted on UK's health records.

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The results of this research stated that there were over 30000 cases of adults-onset of diabetes. Of these 559 occurred after the pancreatic disease. 88% of these cases were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and only 3% were diagnosed with type 3c diabetes. This implied high level of misdiagnosis. People with diabetes followed by the pancreatic disorder had worse control on their insulin and blood sugar levels.

The study is subject to some assumptions and lacks a direct proof which can state misdiagnosis. Of the total number of adult-onset cases, type 3c accounts for a very small number of cases.

The lack of recognition of this third type of diabetes is pretty clear. The American Diabetes Association journal does not mention this third form of diabetes.