Influence of childhood parental history of type 2 diabetes on the pre-diabetic and diabetic status in adulthood: the Bogalusa Heart Study

To assess the association of childhood parental history of type 2 diabetes and the risk of diabetes in adulthood. Observations were made on a community-based cohort of normoglycemic (n = 1619), pre-diabetic (n = 78), and type 2 diabetic (n = 50) adult subjects followed serially for cardiovascular risk factors over 22 years from childhood and noting their relation to a parental history of diabetes. In a longitudinal multivariate model including parental diabetes observed in the offspring's childhood, BMI, MAP, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin, and glucose, adjusted for age, age(2), race, sex, and race by sex interaction, parental diabetes and adverse changes in LDL cholesterol and glucose were independently associated with pre-diabetic status in adulthood (regression coefficient [beta] = 0.74 (95% CI: 0.04-1.45), 0.44 (95% CI: 0.24-0.64), and 1.99 (95% CI: 1.73-2.25), respectively), while parental diabetes and adverse changes in BMI, HDL cholesterol, and glucose were associated with the diabetic status (beta = 1.14 (95% CI: 0.35-1.92), 0.08 (95% CI: 0.05-0.11), -0.51 (95% CI: -1.03 to -0.003), and 1.79 (95% CI: 1.48-2.09), respectively). Childhood parental history of diabetes along with adverse changes in adiposity, glucose, and lipoprotein variables of metabolic syndrome since childhood are associated with the increased risk of pre-diabetic and diabetic status in adulthood.