Syed Akbar
Hyderabad: Those with a family history of type 2 diabetes
are more prone to metabolic syndrome, now increasingly recognized as a silent killer.
Metabolic syndrome is a combination of health factors including
obesity and hypertension, which may lead to stroke and cardiac arrest.
A team of Indian researchers has found that people with a family
history of type 2 diabetes are relatively more susceptible to
metabolic syndrome. They suggest that family history, thus, could be
used as a tool for genomic studies to unravel several health mysteries
associated with diabetes and metabolic syndrome. It could also be used
as predictive tool for early diagnosis and prevention of metabolic
syndrome in India that would help in better assessment and successful
management of cardiovascular diseases.
“Evidence suggests that family history by itself is most useful for
predicting disease when there are multiple family members affected,
the relationship among relatives is close, and disease is premature,
that is, it occurs at younger ages than would be expected,” the
research team said. The team comprised anthropologists Mithun Das,
Susil Pal and Arnab Ghosh from Kolkata.
According to them, family history information can be used to
personalise health messages, which are potentially more effective in
promoting healthy lifestyles than standardised health messages
The study revealed that individuals with positive family history of
diabetes had significantly higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome and
its confounding factors as compared to their counterparts. About 450
persons including 257 men were studied as part of the research.
They said individuals with a history of both parents affected from
diabetes had significantly higher body mass index, waist
circumference, waist-hip ratio, systolic blood pressure, diastolic
blood pressure and fasting blood glucose than those having no family
history of type 2 diabetes.
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