A number of other types of diabetes exist. A person may exhibit characteristics of more than one type. For example, in latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA), also called type 1.5 diabetes or double diabetes, people show signs of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Other types of diabetes include those caused by
- genetic defects of the beta cell—the part of the pancreas that makes insulin—such as maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) or neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM)
- genetic defects in insulin action, resulting in the body’s inability to control blood glucose levels, as seen in leprechaunism and the Rabson-Mendenhall syndrome
- diseases of the pancreas or conditions that damage the pancreas, such as pancreatitis and cystic fibrosis
- excess amounts of certain hormones resulting from some medical conditions—such as cortisol in Cushing’s syndrome—that work against the action of insulin
- medications that reduce insulin action, such as glucocorticoids, or chemicals that destroy beta cells
- infections, such as congenital rubella and cytomegalovirus
- rare immune-mediated disorders, such as stiff-man syndrome, an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system
- genetic syndromes associated with diabetes, such as Down syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome
