Monogenic Diabetes Reported in South Asians: A Systematic Review

Monogenic diabetes refers to a group of single gene disorders of insulin secretion impairment resulting in diabetes. We selected two of the commonest forms of monogenic diabetes namely, maturity onset of diabetes of the young (MODY) and neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM), and looked for studies that reported these two conditions in South Asians (SA). The primary aim was to identify the number of monogenic diabetes cases reported so far in SA. We searched major databases from 1990 to 2022 to identify articles published on monogenic diabetes in SA countries and SAs. Original articles that showed the prevalence or reported cases of monogenic diabetes through genetic analysis, on children, adolescents and adults, published in the English Language were included. Following an initial screening by title and abstract by three reviewers, the full texts retrieved were independently screened by two reviewers. A total of 3176 studies on monogenic diabetes were obtained and 2525 abstracts were selected for the title and abstract screening, subsequently were excluded. The remaining 235 abstracts underwent full-text analysis. Finally, 46 studies (MODY, n = 18 and NDM, n = 28) were included in this paper. A total of 89 variants in MODY and 139 variants in NDM were recorded. Among the documented variants, 38 were causal for MODY and 116 were causal for NDM. This review provides the list of causal variants of MODY and NDM in SA. This could be helpful in the clinical setting for planning the treatment of MODY and NDM individuals in SA.