Familial Early-Onset Type 2 Diabetes in Chinese Patients

Abstract

The prevalence of putative diabetogenic gene mutations and autoimmune markers were 4% for glucokinase, 0% for HNF-4alpha, 5% for HNF-1alpha, 3% for mt3243, 2% for amylin 520G, and 4% for anti-GAD. Compared with late-onset patients, the patients with early-onset diabetes had a higher prevalence of a parental history of diabetes and were generally more obese. When classified by obesity indexes (BMI and waist circumference), the obese patients, especially those with early-onset diabetes, had a clustering of cardiovascular risk factors and increased rates of retinopathy and albuminuria. CONCLUSIONS; Genetic factors (up to 14%) and obesity (55%) play more significant roles than autoimmunity (4%) in familial type 2 diabetes in young Chinese patients. The significance of obesity-related genes and other gene-gene and gene-environment interactions in these young patients remains to be determined.