title: Diabetes in Hong Kong Chinese: evidence for familial clustering and parental effects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate transmission patterns of diabetes and their relationships with clinical characteristics in Hong Kong Chinese patients with late-onset (age > or =35 years) type 2 diabetes.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study involved 2,310 patients consecutively selected from a hospital clinic-based diabetes registry. These patients all reported the diabetes status of their parents as well as siblings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Approximately 36% of the 2,310 patients reported at least 1 affected parent or sibling (25 and 21% reported at least 1 diabetic parent and sibling, respectively). These patients, irrespective of their sex, were more likely to have a diabetic mother than a diabetic father (17 vs. 13% of the male patients and 18 vs. 9% of the female patients, P<0.01). The male patients were more likely than the female patients to have a diabetic father (13 vs. 9%, P<0.01). The female patients with a diabetic mother were found to have higher levels of plasma total cholesterol compared with the female patients with a diabetic father in multiple comparisons with adjustment for significance (5.56+/-1.30 vs. 5.09+/-0.95 mmol/l, P<0.05). In 2-group comparisons, there was also evidence that the male patients with a diabetic father had higher BMI values than the male patients with a diabetic mother (25.9+/-3.5 vs. 25.0+/-3.5 kg/m2, P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found familial clustering of diabetes in the Hong Kong Chinese population as well as a significant maternal influence and a male sex-specific paternal effect. We suggest that both maternal and paternal factors may be implicated in the development of type 2 diabetes in the Chinese population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, SAR. shaochin@ctimail.com
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Y B
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: V T
authors.initials: VT
authors.lastname: Yeung
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: W Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: So
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: W B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Critchley
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Cockram
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009679:Nuclear Family; D010290:Parents; D012042:Registries; D012727:Sex Characteristics
chemical_list: D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin