Those responsible for the study pointed out that their discovery could be the basis for the development of more personalized treatments to combat the disease and to identify those with a higher risk of complications in the diagnostic stage.
A study prepared by Swedish and Finnish scientists has identified five different types of diabetes, according to the medical magazine The Lancet.
The researchers analyzed five different groups of patients with diabetes that presented "significantly different" characteristics, as well as "risk of different complications."
Normally, as indicated by the publication, there are two types of diabetes, 1 and 2, but the two is usually "very heterogeneous."
Those responsible for the study pointed out that their discovery could be the basis for the development of more personalized treatments to combat the disease and to identify those with a higher risk of complications in the diagnostic stage.
In addition, they discovered that type 3 of the disease is the most insulin resistant and the people who suffer from it have a significantly higher risk of contracting a diabetic renal condition than diabetes patients type 4 and 5.
For its part, the type 2 of the disease is the one that contains the greatest probabilities of deriving in diabetic retinopathy, one of the main causes of blindness.
To prepare the report, the scientists analyzed data from recently diagnosed patients with the disease.
"This new classification can help adapt and direct earlier treatments for the sick, which represents a first step towards precision medicine in diabetes," the researchers concluded.
Around 3.7 million people suffer diabetes in the United Kingdom, of which only 10 % have type 1, the least common of all.
