ArticleCureus2026
Prevalence of Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase (GAD) Antibody Positivity in Young-Onset Diabetes: A Retrospective Study From Northeast India.
Article in Cureus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLatent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) is a distinct form of diabetes characterized by autoimmune β-cell destruction with a slower progression compared to classical type 1 diabetes. It is frequently misclassified as type 2 diabetes, particularly in younger individuals, leading to suboptimal management. The presence of anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibodies is a key diagnostic marker for LADA. However, data on the prevalence and distribution of GAD antibodies among young-onset diabetes patients in Northeast India are limited.
methodsThis retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at the Multidisciplinary Research Unit of a tertiary care center in Northeast India using archived serum samples from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-funded PHENOEINDY-2 (Phenotyping North East Indian Young Type 2 Diabetes) cohort study (2017-2021). A total of 149 individuals diagnosed with diabetes before 40 years of age were included based on the availability of adequate stored serum samples. Serum anti-GAD antibody levels were measured using a standardized enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Participants were categorized as GAD-negative (<5 U/mL) or GAD-positive (≥5 U/mL), the latter considered suggestive of an autoimmune diabetes phenotype. Descriptive analyses were performed to determine the prevalence and distribution of GAD antibody levels.
resultsThe overall mean GAD antibody level was 3.17 U/mL, with a median of 1.07 U/mL and a wide range (0.26-109.15 U/mL), demonstrating a markedly right-skewed distribution (skewness 7.52; kurtosis 63.29). Fourteen patients (9.4%) were classified as GAD-positive, indicating a probable diagnosis of LADA. The GAD-negative group (n=135) showed a tightly clustered distribution with low variability (mean 0.95 U/mL; SD 0.54 U/mL), consistent with non-autoimmune diabetes. In contrast, the GAD-positive group exhibited substantial heterogeneity (mean 24.58 U/mL; SD 29.67 U/mL), with several individuals demonstrating markedly elevated antibody levels exceeding 70-100 U/mL. Visual analyses confirmed a clear separation between the two groups, with compact clustering in the GAD-negative cohort and a wide dispersion in the GAD-positive subgroup.
conclusionApproximately 1 in 10 young-onset diabetes patients in this cohort demonstrated GAD positivity, suggesting that autoimmune diabetes represents an important subset of young-onset diabetes in Northeast India. These findings provide preliminary epidemiological evidence on the prevalence of GAD positivity in this population and support the need for larger prospective studies incorporating detailed clinical phenotyping, metabolic follow-up, and evaluation of the clinical utility of GAD antibody testing to improve diagnostic classification and patient management.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.