To help increase understanding and reduce misdiagnosis of latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA), Diabetes Hands Foundation (DHF) and dLife announce the first annual LADA Awareness Week for the diabetes community. DHF and dLife – in partnership with other participating advocacy groups and people living with diabetes – will offer important information, tools, and tips for recognizing and diagnosing LADA.

This annual week long event starts on the third Monday of October. For 2011, LADA Awareness Week is from Monday, October 17 to Sunday, October 23.

An estimated 10 percent of Americans with diabetes have LADA. LADA is different and distinct from type 2 diabetes, yet people with LADA are often misdiagnosed because both occur in adulthood and share similar symptoms. Over time, this misdiagnosis can result in out-of-control blood sugars, which can lead to serious and life-threatening diabetic complications. The goal of LADA Awareness Week is to help misdiagnosed patients recognize the signs of LADA and talk to their doctor about testing and treatment.

LADA stands for latent autoimmune diabetes in adults. It is a slowly-progressing form of type 1 diabetes, sometimes called type 1.5, that is diagnosed in adulthood. Like ‘regular’ type 1 diabetes, the autoimmune process of LADA destroys cells in the pancreas, requiring eventual insulin treatment.

Download and complete this LADA screening checklist. If you answer YES to two or more of the questions, take the checklist to your doctor and talk to him about whether or not you should be tested for latent autoimmune diabetes in adults.

• Seeking stories of misdiagnosis
• Life with Type 1.5/LADA: How it all started
• Type 1.5 Diabetes? Yes
• A new low: diagnosed with LADA in mid-June
• Can you change from Type 2 to Type 1?
• How does a doctor differentiate between Type 2 and Type 1.5 LADA?
• Bill of Rights for People with Adult-Onset Type 1 Diabetes or “A Manifesto for the Misdiagnosed”

Read more LADA topics and share your LADA story in our Forum.

• Other Types of Diabetes (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
• Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults - LADA (Islets of Hope)
• LADA: Slow Onset Type 1 Diabetes with Some Type 2 Features (What they don't tell you about diabetes)
• The Other Diabetes: LADA, or Type 1.5 (Diabetes Forecast)
• Could your Type 2 diagnosis be wrong? (Diabetic Living magazine)
• Clarifying LADA (Type 1 Diabetes in Adults) (DiabetesMine)