This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Diabetes in the family predicts type 2 diabetes diagnoses in women but not in men
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
A high genetic risk score was predictive of a type 2 diabetes diagnosis in French adults, and the risk for diabetes was more pronounced in women with a family history of the disease than in men, according to findings.
Beverley Balkau, PhD, emeritus director of research in INSERM, Center for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health at the University of Paris-South, and colleagues evaluated data from the Epidemiological Study on Insulin Resistance syndrome (D.E.S.I.R.) on 2,187 men and 2,282 women followed for 9 years to determine family transmission of type 2 diabetes.
Through follow-up, the prevalence of incident diabetes was higher in men than women (6.2% vs. 2.8%; P < .0001). Risk factors for incident diabetes regardless of sex included age, BMI, waist circumference, hypertension, glucose and genetic risk score. Smoking was a risk factor only for men, whereas diabetes in the family was a risk factor only for women.
Women and men had similar frequencies of first-degree relatives with diabetes (20% vs. 18%), and the same was true for first- or second-degree relatives (31% vs. 28%). Women with incident diabetes were more likely than men to have a first-degree family member with diabetes (43% vs. 21%). The risk for incident diabetes was slightly higher among men (HR = 1.21; 95% CI, 0.8-1.85) and significantly higher among women (HR = 3.02; 95% CI, 1.83-4.99) when they had a first-degree relative with diabetes.
The risk for incident diabetes was higher among women whose mothers had diabetes (HR = 4.16; 95% CI, 2.35-7.37) compared with if their fathers had diabetes (HR = 2.31; 95% CI, 1.16-4.62).
The risk for incident diabetes was associated with genetic risk scores with similar HRs among men (HR = 1.1; 95% CI, 1.06-1.15) and women (HR = 1.08; 95% CI, 1.02-1.14) for each additional at-risk allele.
“Diabetes passes to daughters in families, not to sons,” Balkau told Endocrine Today. “Women many need to be more frequently screened for diabetes than men in the case of having diabetes in their family. Studies in other populations are needed to see if the same results hold true, or if the results are specifically French or specific to the D.E.S.I.R. study.” – by Amber Cox
For more information:
Beverley Balkau, PhD, can be reached at Beverley.balkau@inserm.fr.
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts