Family history of type 2 diabetes, abdominal adipocyte size and markers of the metabolic syndrome

Abstract

Background/Objectives A major risk factor of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a positive family history of diabetes. First degree relatives (FDR) of patients with T2DM are more insulin resistant and are reported to have larger abdominal subcutaneous adipocytes than adults without a family history. Our objectives were to assess whether a family history of T2DM is associated with larger abdominal adipocytes independent of age, sex, and abdominal subcutaneous fat and to assess whether FDR of T2DM is also independently related to femoral adipocyte size, as well as visceral fat and fasting plasma triglyceride (TG) concentrations. Methods We extracted adipocyte size, body composition, plasma TG and demographic data of non-diabetic research participants of previous studies conducted in our laboratory. We ascertained the family history of T2DM from the electronic medical records. Multivariate regression analysis was used to assess whether FDR of T2DM are more likely to have other risk factors after adjusting for known covariates. Results Of 604 participants, 148 were a FDR of T2DM. Although abdominal and femoral adipocyte size was greater in FDR of T2DM than those without a family history (0.74 ± 0.33 vs 0.63 ± 0.33 µg lipid/cell, P < 0.001; 0.81 ± 0.29 vs 0.72 ± 0.33 µg lipid/cell, P=0.01, respectively), this was confounded by FDR of T2DM being older, having greater BMI’s and percent body fat. A family history of T2DM was a significant predictor of abdominal adipocyte size after adjustment for age and body fat distribution parameters in females (total R2=0.5, p < 0.0001), but not in males. A family history of T2DM was not independently predictive of femoral adipocyte size, visceral fat area or TG. Conclusions FDR of T2DM females have larger abdominal, but not femoral, adipocytes, even after accounting for age and body fat distribution.

Screening Cardiovascular Risk Factors of Diabetes Patients in the&nbsp;Primary Diabetes Clinics

“…In contrary, the control rate of blood glucose was lower as the number of risk factors increased. In addition, the risk factors numbers increased in patients with diabetic family history, which was consistent with the literatures [27][28][29][30].…”

Association between Dietary Habits, Shift Work, and the Metabolic Syndrome: The Korea Nurses’ Health Study

“…In this study, we identified that the subjects with a family history of diabetes were at over 2 times higher risk of MetS. This supports the finding of the prior study that a family history of diabetes is a predicting risk factor of MetS [ 26 , 27 , 58 ]. Adults aged 45 and younger may neglect life habit management, but their MetS incident risk is relatively low.…”

Impaired Adipogenesis and Dysfunctional Adipose Tissue in Human Hypertrophic Obesity

“…Thus a high genetic risk for T2D, be it FDR or individuals carrying genetic markers for insulin resistance, is associated with evidence of impaired SAT adipogenesis supporting direct causality. Interestingly, a recent study investigating whether a family history of T2D is associated with adipocyte hypertrophy in the abdominal and femoral SAT showed no association for the femoral adipose tissue, whereas there seems to be a sex difference in the association in abdominal adipose tissue after adjusting for age and body fat distribution (13).…”