Characteristics of young offspring of type 2 diabetic parents in a biracial (black-white) community-based sample: The Bogalusa heart study

Abstract The impact of race (black-white) and family history of type 2 diabetes mellitus on metabolic characteristics in early life was examined in a community-based sample from Bogalusa, LA. Study subjects included offpsirng of type 2 diabetics (n = 53, 47%) black) and nondiabetics (n = 52, 40% black), with the mean age of each group ranging from 14.2 to 15.6 years. Offspring were given a 1-hour oral glucose tolerance test. Measures of body fatness such as body weight, body-mass index (BMI; weight/height 2 ), and triceps and subscapular thicknesses were significantly higher only in white offspring of diabetics versus nondiabetics; measures of abdominal fat (waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio) were significantly higher among offspring of diabetics of both races. Among the measures of glucose homeostasis, basal glucose, insulin, insulin—to-—C-peptide ratio (a measure of hepatic insulin extraction), insulin resistance index (derived from basal glucose and insulin levels), and glucose response after glucose challenge were higher in the offsprig of diabetics of both races. The differences in insulin—to—C-peptide ratio and glucose response remained significant after adjusting for BMI; further, these two variables were independently associated with parental diabetes in both races. Waist-to-hip ratio, glucose response, C-peptide response (a measure of insulin secretion) were lower, and basal insulin—to—C-peptide ratio and postglucose suppression of free fatty acids greater in blacks versus whites, regardless of status of parental diabetes. Black-white differences in postglucose suppression of free fatty acids disappeared after adjusting for BMI. Thus, blacks and whites with parental type 2 diabetes show multiple abnormalities in parameters governing glucose homeostasis early in life, and some of these traits differ between the races, regardless of status of parental diabetes.