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Common genetic basis between type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus indicated by interview-based assessment of family history.

Fujisawa T, Ikegami H, Kawaguchi Y, Nojima K, Kawabata Y, Ono M, Nishino M, Noso S, Taniguchi H, Horiki M, Itoi-Babaya M, Babaya N, Inoue K, Ogihara T

Department of Geriatric Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2, Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.

To investigate the intrafamilial clustering of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, an interview-based assessment of family history of diabetes was conducted. Outpatients with either type 1 (n = 23) or type 2 diabetes (n = 124), and non-diabetic subjects (n = 118) received an interview regarding the diabetic status of each of their family members. In patients with type 1 diabetes, 22% (5 out of 23) had a parental history of diabetes, and diabetes in these 5 parents was assessed as type 2 diabetes mellitus. The prevalence of parental diabetes in the type 1 diabetic probands (22%) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that in non-diabetic probands (7%, 8 out of 118). In probands with type 2 diabetes, the prevalence of parental diabetes was 39% (48 out of 124), which was significantly higher (P < 0.0005) than that in the non-diabetic probands (7%). In the type 2 diabetic probands, no significant difference was noted in the prevalence between paternal (19%, 23 out of 124) and maternal diabetes (23%, 28 out of 124), suggesting no preferential inheritance of maternal diabetes in this population. The present interview-based assessment of family history of diabetes suggested a common genetic basis between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Published 26 November 2004 in Diabetes Res Clin Pract, 66: S91-5.
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