What are the chances that children of diabetics will develop diabetes? When is the right time to get pregnant? How to give birth to a healthy baby, answer and discuss from relevant aspects.
As with genetics, parental influences vary. The genetics of diabetes are complex and not well understood. Children may acquire diabetes susceptibility genes from their parents, and together with certain environmental factors, they may interact and develop the disease. Here, environmental factors mainly act as triggers and catalysts. The strength of heredity is different in different races or ethnic groups. It\’s important to note that not everyone with these risk genes will develop diabetes. In fact, most people will not develop diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes can be inherited from both parents, with the father having a stronger heritability than the mother. Antibodies to islet cells, insulin autoantibodies, and glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies can be detected in the blood of patients with type 1 diabetes. Brothers and sisters are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes. The higher the antibody titer, the greater the likelihood of developing type 1 diabetes. Therefore, we may be able to use these antibodies to predict the risk of developing type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is a polygenic genetic disease often related to obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, etc. Mothers play a greater role than fathers in the inheritance of type 2 diabetes. Children are more likely to develop diabetes if both parents have diabetes.
Some special types of diabetes, such as mitochondrial gene mutation diabetes, are inherited from mothers and occur in families. The incidence rate among diabetic patients is 0.5% to 1.5%. Children of female patients may be affected, but not those of male patients. Most of these patients develop the disease between the ages of 30 and 40 years. Most are normal or thin, accompanied by deafness, and a few are accompanied by other neurogenetic diseases. Onset diabetes of the young (MODY) is another form of diabetes that occurs in young people, usually in patients under 25 years of age. It is inherited autosomal dominantly and occurs in 2% to 5% of patients with type 2 diabetes. Its main characteristic is autosomal dominant inheritance, that is, there are multiple patients in the family, and the disease lasts for more than 3 generations. The age of onset is relatively young, usually before the age of 25, and it mostly occurs in children and adolescents. Some symptoms may not appear until middle age. Unlike type 2 diabetes, obesity and insulin resistance are not the main causes of MODY. MODY is mainly caused by a decrease in insulin secretion caused by a functional defect of pancreatic islet B cells. There is no ketosis and insulin treatment is generally not required. Oral sulfonylurea hypoglycemic drugs are often effective. Clinically, this disease should be considered for young patients with type 2 diabetes who have a family history of diabetes, have a young age of onset, are less than 25 years old, have no tendency to ketosis, and do not need treatment for insulin disorders.
