MODY: one of the most easily missed causes of diabetes

Maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY) is a type of diabetes that is often misclassified as type 1 or type 2 diabetes but is different from both.¹ An accurate diagnosis of MODY is important because it enables individuals to receive the correct treatment and to be advised appropriately about the future course of their diabetes. Furthermore, there are important implications for other family members given the strong inheritance pattern of the condition.²

What is MODY ?

By 1974 a picture had emerged of a milder form of diabetes that was inherited in a dominant fashion. Fajans and Tattersall introduced the term MODY, at that stage defining it as, ‘a fasting hyperglycaemia diagnosed under the age of 25 years which could be treated without insulin for at least two years’. Tattersall³ identified these characteristics of MODY: