Biomarkers in diabetes patients under age 40; comparison between Cameroon and Belgium

Abstract

The prevalence of diabetes is increasing worldwide, with devastating
effects posing a huge public health problem. Diabetes classification in
most parts of sub-Saharan Africa is solely on clinical ground, and this is
quite challenging especially in early adulthood necessitating the use of
biological markers for adequate disease characterisation. Autoantibodies
against the islet cell antigens including insulin (IAA), glutamic acid
decarboxylase (GADA), insulinoma-associated protein-2 (IA-2A), and
the zinc transporter-8 (ZnT8A) are known to distinguish type 1 (type 1A)
diabetes from the other forms. The measurement of random or
postglucagon C-peptide levels is also known to discriminate between type
1 and type 2 diabetes. However, the analysis of these biomarkers is not
performed in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa including Cameroon due
to technical and practical limitations. The emergence of a North-South
collaborative project entitled ‘Cameroon Diabetes Epidemiology and
Registry’ with acronym CAMDER has made possible the assessment of
the diagnostic value of the biomarkers for type 1 diabetes in a
Cameroonian cohort of newly diagnosed diabetes patients aged under
40. First, the prevalence, diagnostic value and relevance of these
markers were investigated in a registry-based population of diabetes
patients under age 40 and their first degree relatives of the same age
group in Belgium. Experience gained and knowledge acquired from the
Belgian Diabetes Registry has facilitated epidemiological studies on type
1 diabetes in Cameroon, with further investigations on how the data
compares with those from Belgium which we hereby present in this PhD
thesis.

Date of Award	25 Jun 2014
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Supervisor	Christiaan Van Schravendijk (Promotor), Ilse Weets (Co-promotor), Jean-Claude Mbanya (Co-promotor), Pieter in 't Veld (Jury), Jean De Schepper (Jury), H. Aanstoot (Jury), Christophe De Block (Jury) & Josué Mfopou Kunjom (Jury)