Glutamic acid decarboxylase and islet antigen 2 antibody profiles in people with adult‐onset diabetes mellitus: a comparison between mixed ethnic populations in Singapore and Germany†

Aim To gain insight into the presence of islet cell autoimmunity in an ethnic Asian compared with a white European population. Methods For this cross‐sectional study we recruited people with adult‐onset diabetes (age of diagnosis 20–60 years), at tertiary referral centres in Germany (n=1020) and Singapore (n=1088). Glutamic acid decarboxylase and islet antigen 2 antibodies were measured according to Islet Autoantibody Standardization Program protocols. Results The prevalence of glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody positivity was 13.9% (95% CI 12.1–16.0; P
What's new? Data on the prevalence of adult‐onset autoimmune diabetes gathered from population‐based studies in Asia are sparse. We assessed the presence of islet cell antibodies [glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and islet antigen 2 (IA2) antibodies] in three ethnic Asian groups from Singapore as compared with a white European population with diabetes.In the Asian cohort, IA2 antibodies were most prevalent, across the three ethnicities, whereas GAD antibodies were more frequent in the white European cohort. In the white European cohort, those who were GAD autoantibody‐positive had a lower BMI than those who were GAD autoantibody‐negative, but this trend was absent in the Asian cohort.