Not all type 1 is the same: what a UK-led African study found
A UK-led study found about two thirds of young Africans diagnosed with type 1 lacked the usual autoimmune signs, pointing to a non-autoimmune subtype.
On 21 July 2025 a UK-led study called YODA reported that among young people in Africa diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, nearly two thirds did not show the usual signs of the immune attack behind type 1. That points to a different, non-autoimmune form of diabetes wearing the type 1 label. It is a finding about getting diagnosis right, not about anyone doing anything wrong, and if you already have a UK type 1 diagnosis it does not mean that diagnosis is mistaken.
- Type 1 is usually an autoimmune condition: the immune system attacks the body’s own insulin-making cells, and blood tests can pick up the markers of that attack.
- In this African study, about 65 per cent of young people labelled type 1 lacked those typical autoimmune features, suggesting a different underlying cause.
- They still had diabetes and still needed care; the question is what kind of diabetes it actually is, which shapes the right treatment.
- The work was led by the University of Exeter, and it matters for people of African ancestry, including in the UK.
- It reshapes how doctors should think about classifying diabetes, rather than changing anything for a person whose type 1 is already confirmed and well managed.
A label that did not always match the mechanism
Type 1 is defined in most people’s minds by insulin dependence, but medically it is an autoimmune diagnosis: the immune system produces antibodies against the insulin-making cells, and those antibodies, along with a measure of how much insulin the body still makes, are what confirm it. YODA was the first large study of its kind in Africa, and it found that most of the young people carrying a type 1 label did not have those autoimmune markers.
That does not mean they were healthy or misbehaving. It means their diabetes may have a different cause from classic autoimmune type 1, even though it looked the same on the surface. Naming that matters, because the right long-term treatment depends on what is actually going on, not just on the label written at a first, often rushed, diagnosis.
Better diagnosis, not a reason to doubt yours
It is easy to read a headline like this and wonder whether your own diagnosis is right. For most people in the UK, the answer is that there is no cause for alarm. UK diagnosis of type 1 generally involves the same antibody and C-peptide tests that would flag classic autoimmune type 1, and if yours was confirmed that way, this study does not overturn it. What the research does is push for more careful classification, particularly for people of African ancestry, whose diabetes has been far less studied.
The practical value is for the future: fewer people given the wrong label, and treatment matched to the real condition. If you have ever been unsure which type you have, or your diabetes has behaved in a way that puzzled your team, it is a fair thing to ask about, but it is a question to raise calmly, not a reason to change anything on your own.