Association of Parental History of Diabetes with Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Children with Type 2 Diabetes

AIMS: Determine if parental diabetes(DM) is associated with unhealthier cardiovascular disease(CVD) risk profiles in youth with type 2 diabetes(T2D), and whether associations differed by race/ethnicity. METHODS: Family history was available for 382 youth with T2D from 2001 prevalent and 2002–2005 incident SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth cohorts. PARENTAL DM WAS EVALUATED TWO WAYS: two-category— any parent vs. no parent DM (evaluated overall and stratified by race/ethnicity); four-category— both parents, mother only, father only, or no parent DM (evaluated overall only). Associations with hemoglobin A1c(HbA1c), fasting lipids, blood pressure(BP), and urine albumin:creatinine ratio(ACR) were examined using regression models. RESULTS: Overall, sample characteristics included: 35.9% male, 19.1% non-Hispanic white(NHW), mean T2D duration 26.6 ± 22.2 months, mean HbA1c 7.9 ± 2.5% (62.6 ± 27.8mmol/mol). Unadjusted two-category comparisons showed youth with parental DM had higher HbA1c, higher DBP, and higher frequency of elevated ACR. Adjusted two-category comparisons showed associations remaining in non-stratified analysis for ACR [OR95%CI)=2.3(1.1, 5.0)] and in NHW youth for HbA1c [6.8% ± 0.4 v. 8.0 ± 0.4 (51.1±4.8mmol/mol v.63.9 ± 4.2), p=.015], DBP (67.7% ± 4.5 v. 76.9 ± 4.4 mmHg, p=.014) and lnTG (4.7±0.3 v. 5.3±0.3, p=.008). There were no significant findings in the adjusted four-category evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: Parental history of diabetes may be associated with unhealthier CVD risk factors in youth with T2D.