The diagnosis of LADA diabetes in a low-resource country: A Peruvian case series

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a global public health concern, affecting 10% of adults. Among its variants, latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) accounts for 3% to 11% of cases. Limited awareness and high testing costs contribute to misdiagnosis and inadequate treatment, increasing the risk of chronic complications. Design: A cases series. Methods: Fifteen Peruvian patients with LADA were studied to describe their clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment. Results: The average age was 36.2 years, with a mean disease duration of 5.6 years. All patients presented with acute symptoms, and their mean body mass index at diagnosis was 23.3 kg/m². Glycemic control was achieved with an average daily insulin dose of 0.96 IU/kg. None of the patients had access to capillary glucose self-monitoring or continuous glucose monitoring, as all were living in poverty or extreme poverty. Conclusions: LADA is an uncommon form of early-onset DM whose diagnosis and treatment in resource-limited countries are impacted by socioeconomic conditions. Therefore, we propose a clinical algorithm for managing this condition in low-resource settings.