Double Diabetes: The Search for a Treatment Paradigm in Children and Adolescents

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in children. Diabetes mellitus is classified into four major types. Type 1, type 2, gestational, and other specific types. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is caused by autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) results from a combination of insulin resistance and be‐ ta cell insulin secretory defect. The rising prevalence of childhood obesity has made it more difficult to differentiate between these types of diabetes in children. There is a new expres‐ sion of diabetes in children known as double diabetes, or hybrid diabetes. This is a clinical state where both T1D and T2D co-exist in the same individual as shown in Figure 1 below.