Type 1 diabetes
autoimmune disease, a form of diabetes mellitus that occurs when insulin-producing cells are destroyed by the immune system
Type 1 diabetes (T1D), or type 1 diabetes mellitus, is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the body's immune system destroys beta cells in the pancreas that produce the hormone insulin. Insulin is used by the body to store and convert blood sugar into energy. T1D results in high blood sugar levels in the body prior to treatment due to the lack of insulin. Common symptoms include frequent urination (polyuria), increased thirst (polydipsia), increased hunger (polyphagia), weight loss, and other changes. Additional symptoms may include blurry vision, tiredness, and slow wound healing (owing to impaired blood flow). While some cases take longer, symptoms usually appear within weeks to a few months.
The cause of type 1 diabetes is not completely understood, but it is believed to involve an autoimmune attack caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. The underlying mechanism involves an autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Diabetes is diagnosed by testing the level of sugar or glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) in the blood.
Type 1 diabetes can be distinguished from type 2 by testing for the presence of autoantibodies and/or declining levels/absence of C-peptide.
The public source identifies “Type 1 diabetes” as autoimmune disease, a form of diabetes mellitus that occurs when insulin-producing cells are destroyed by the immune system. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Type, diabetes and autoimmune.
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This entry incorporates text from “Type 1 diabetes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.