Related Experiment Videos
Importance of maternal history of non-insulin dependent diabetic patients
1Medical Professional Unit, St Bartholomew's Hospital, West Smithfield, London.
Insights
Maternal inheritance plays a significant role in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Mothers were more frequently implicated than fathers in the family history of NIDDM patients.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Genetics
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) has a complex etiology.
- Understanding the familial aggregation and inheritance patterns of NIDDM is crucial for risk assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the family history of diabetes in patients with NIDDM.
- To specifically examine the role of parental phenotype in NIDDM inheritance.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a computerized database and postal questionnaires to collect family histories from NIDDM patients.
- Analyzed data from 1326 NIDDM patients referred to diabetic clinics over 10 years.
Main Results:
- Mothers were significantly more often implicated than fathers in the inheritance of NIDDM.
- This finding was consistent across both the database and postal questionnaire data (p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
- Maternal influence appears to be a key factor in the inheritance of NIDDM.
- Further research into maternal factors could elucidate NIDDM's genetic underpinnings.
Objective:
To assess the family history of diabetes in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus with particular emphasis on parental phenotype.
Design:
Family histories were obtained from an existing computerised database and supplemented by postal questionnaires.
Setting:
Diabetic service of a provincial teaching hospital.
Subjects:
A total of 1326 patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes who had been referred to diabetic clinics over the past 10 years and from whom data had been collected for inclusion in the database, of whom 347 had affected first degree relatives. Nineteen non-white patients were excluded because of the differential hereditability of the disease, and 230 (70%) patients with an affected first degree relative responded to the postal questionnaire.
Results:
Mothers were implicated in significantly more cases than fathers in patients with a single affected parent: 125 mothers and 48 fathers from database; 82 mothers and 34 fathers from postal questionnaire; p less than 0.001 in both cases.
Conclusions:
Maternal influences seem to have an important role in the inheritance of non-insulin dependent diabetes.