Association of familial history of diabetes or myocardial infarction and stroke with risk of cardiovascular diseases in four German cohorts

Since family history of diabetes is a very strong risk factor for type 2 diabetes, which is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), it might be also useful to assess the risk for CVD. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the relationship between a familial (parents and siblings) history of diabetes and the risk of incident CVD. Data from four prospective German cohort studies were used: EPIC-Potsdam study (n = 26,054), CARLA study (n = 1,079), SHIP study (n = 3,974), and KORA study (n = 15,777). A multivariable-adjusted Cox regression was performed to estimate associations between familial histories of diabetes, myocardial infarction or stroke and the risk of CVD in each cohort; combined hazard ratios (HR(Meta)) were derived by conducting a meta-analysis. The history of diabetes in first-degree relatives was not related to the development of CVD (HR(Meta) 0.99; 95% CI 0.88–1.10). Results were similar for the single outcomes myocardial infarction (MI) (HR(Meta) 1.07; 95% CI 0.92–1.23) and stroke (HR(Meta) 1.00; 95% CI 0.86–1.16). In contrast, parental history of MI and stroke were associated with an increased CVD risk. Our study indicates that diabetes in the family might not be a relevant risk factor for the incidence of CVD. However, the study confirmed the relationship between a parental history of MI or stroke and the onset of CVD.