Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The existing information about an association between allergic diseases and diabetes mellitus is rather conflicting. However, a few studies demonstrated an inverse relationship between atopic diseases and the risk to develop type1 diabetes mellitus.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to analyze the frequency of allergic diseases in patients with type 1, type 2 and LADA (latent autoimmune diabetes in adults) diabetes mellitus and to evaluate the role of diabetes mellitus in atopy and allergic disease.

Methods: We studied 205 diabetic patients (type 1 DM, n=30; type 2 DM, n=165 and LADA, n=10). All patients responded to a detailed questionnaire of atopic diseases (allergic rhinitis and/or asthma, atopic dermatitis). Atopy was defined by one or more positive skin prick test (SPTs) responses (wheal of >3 mm) to 13 common aeroallergens (olive, birch, mix grasses, plantain, parietaria, mugwort, alternaria, cladosporium, aspergilus, Derm. farinae, Derm. pteronyssinus, cat fur and dog hair- (Stallergenes, France).

Results: No relationship was seen between history of atopy and diabetes mellitus (Pearson Chi Square P value=0.129). However, higher prevalence of atopy was observed in the group of type 1 as well as in LADA diabetic patients (odds ratio for type 1, 2 and LADA 1.31/0.66/0.59 consequently). Furthermore, no significant correlation was observed between SPTs positivity and diabetes mellitus, although higher SPTs positivity was seen in the group of autoimmune diabetes (odds ratio for DM 1, 2 and LADA 0.36/0.3/1 consequently).

Most common allergen sensitizations were: olive (12.2%), grasses (10.2%) and Derm. Pteronyssinus (5.9%).

Conclusion: According to our results there is no association between diabetes mellitus and allergic diseases. However, additional studies are needed to evaluate the effect of atopy and allergic diseases in diabetic patients.