Parental influence on the spectrum of type 2 diabetes in the offspring among Indians.

AIM

Familial aggregation of type 2 diabetes and its vascular complications is strong in Indians. In this study, we have analysed whether the age of the parent at birth of the offspring had any influence on the age at diagnosis of diabetes and age at onset of microvascular complications in the diabetic offspring.

METHODS

Families with either a type 2 diabetic father or mother and a type 2 diabetic offspring, all of whom had been tested at our centre were included in this study (n = 300, father--122, mother--178, offspring male --201, female--99). Anthropometric details, age at diagnosis of diabetes, age at onset of complications and duration of diabetes were recorded. All relevant clinical and investigatory tests were done and appropriate statistical analyses were done.

RESULTS

Age at onset of diabetes was lower in the offspring than in their parents at least by a decade. The age at diagnosis of diabetes in the offspring was determined inversely by the age of the parent at childbirth (p<0.001) and positively by the age of onset of diabetes and the presence of complications in the parents (both p<0.0001). Moreover, the age at diagnosis of complications in the offspring were determined inversely by the age of the parent at childbirth (p=0.0001) and positively by the age of onset of complications in the parents (p=0.0009).

DISCUSSION

A younger parental age at childbirth was protective to the offspring in that the offspring developed diabetes and the complications at an older age.