How Do We Define Cure of Diabetes?

The mission of the American Diabetes Association is “to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.” Increasingly, scientific and medical articles ( 1) and commentaries ( 2) about diabetes interventions use the terms “remission” and “cure” as possible outcomes. Several approved or experimental treatments for type 1 and type 2 diabetes (e.g., pancreas or islet transplants, immunomodulation, bariatric/metabolic surgery) are of curative intent or have been portrayed in the media as a possible cure. However, defining remission or cure of diabetes is not as straightforward as it may seem. Unlike “dichotomous” diseases such as many malignancies, diabetes is defined by…