Raveendran AV. Type 2 diabetes mellitus: Isn’t it time to update the terminology? World J Diabetes 2025; 16(9): 107517 [DOI: 10.4239/wjd.v16.i9.107517]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Arkiath Veettil Raveendran, MD, FRCP, Chief Physician, Department of Internal Medicine, Government Medical College, Mavoor Road, Kozhikode 673010, Kerala, India. raveendranav@yahoo.co.in
Research Domain of This Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Diabetes. Sep 15, 2025; 16(9): 107517 Published online Sep 15, 2025. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v16.i9.107517
Type 2 diabetes mellitus: Isn’t it time to update the terminology?
Arkiath Veettil Raveendran
Arkiath Veettil Raveendran, Department of Internal Medicine, Government Medical College, Kozhikode 673010, Kerala, India
Author contributions: Raveendran AV designed the manuscript, collected the data, wrote and revised the manuscript. The author read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Arkiath Veettil Raveendran, MD, FRCP, Chief Physician, Department of Internal Medicine, Government Medical College, Mavoor Road, Kozhikode 673010, Kerala, India. raveendranav@yahoo.co.in
Received: March 25, 2025 Revised: May 20, 2025 Accepted: August 19, 2025 Published online: September 15, 2025 Processing time: 170 Days and 11.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Recent research has led to a paradigm shift in the treatment approach for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The “twin cycle hypothesis” and evidence supporting diabetes remission have shown that the condition results from excess fat accumulation above the personal fat threshold. When excess fat deposition leads to organ dysfunction, we term it as adiposity-induced metabolic dysfunction associated disease. T2DM is a part of the spectrum of diseases caused by excess fat accumulation. Hence, it is the need of the hour to update the terminology and we propose a new terminology for T2DM. The proposed terminology is more reflective of the multifaceted nature of the disease, reshapes the management protocols and helps in earlier diagnosis and treatment.
