Diabetes in Hong Kong Chinese: evidence for familial clustering and parental effects.
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.
Lee
S C
SC
Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, SAR. shaochin@ctimail.com
Pu
Y B
YB
Chow
C C
CC
Yeung
V T
VT
Ko
G T
GT
So
W Y
WY
Li
J K
JK
Chan
W B
WB
Ma
R C
RC
Critchley
J A
JA
Cockram
C S
CS
Chan
J C
JC
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
D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin