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, age², 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 [β] = 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 (β = 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.