Parental brevity linked to cardiometabolic risk in diabetic descendants

Non-diabetic offspring from long-lived parents benefit from lowered CV risk. No study investigated the effects of parental lifespan on their progeny when offspring have T2DM. This study assessed CV and metabolic features of T2DM offspring according to parental lifespan.

558 T2DM patients were questioned on parental longevity (paternal and/or maternal lifespan ≥ 80 years); mean age 66 (11) years; male:female 66:34; divided into 6 groups: long-lived father [LLF] (n = 143); short-lived father [SLF] (n = 262); long-lived mother [LLM] (n = 229); short-lived mother [SLM] (n = 176); long-lived father and long-lived mother [LLF & LLM] (n = 82); and short-lived father and/or short-lived mother [SLF &/or SLM] (n = 323).

Age was similar in [LLF & LLM] and [SLF &/or SLM]. Diabetes duration was longer in [SLF &/or SLM] (p 0.0073). Body composition, hypertension, hepatic steatosis and metabolic syndrome (MetS) were similar in both groups, [SLF &/or SLM] having a higher MetS score: 3.79 (1.12) vs. 3.48 (1.12) (p 0.0257). Fasting insulinemia was higher in [SLF &/or SLM] (p 0.0001), who were more insulin resistant (+10%: p 0.0440). HbA1c was higher (+0.36%) in [SLF &/or SLM] (p 0.0138). LDL-C; non-HDL-C; and apoB100 were similar in both groups, whereas HDL-C and apoA-I were higher in [LLF & LLM] (p 0.0233 and p 0.0179). Prevalence and severity of atherogenic dyslipidemia were raised in [SLF &/or SLM], by 53% (prevalence) and 13% (log[TG]/HDL-C) (p 0.0172 and p 0.0067).

Bilateral reductions in parental longevity are linked to unfavorable cardiometabolic phenotype in T2DM descendants, with worsened insulin resistance and atherogenic dyslipidemia among 1st-degree offspring.