Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with Google
Is Diabetes A Hereditary Disease?
Question: Diabetes, they say is also hereditary.. What are the chances of one getting a diabetes if soomeone in the family has it? I want to know how it runs in the generation - some children would be just carriers while some could actually be more prone to it..
Hi XXXXXXX
The chance of a generation to have diabetes is always higher than the previous generation of theirs. If one parent has type 2 diabetes, more than 40 percent chance is that the child will have diabetes at an earlier age than the age the parent might have gotten diagnosed with diabetes. If both the parents have type 2 diabetes then more than 85 percent chance of the child to get diagnosed at around 40 years of age.
In Asian Indians, you can always assume these things happening faster in children one because of our genetics, two because of our lifestyle issues and three because of environment issues.
Well, some children would be more prone to type 2 diabetes when they were borne to mothers with gestational diabetes, they are overweight from the begining, they do not exercise and feed on junk meals, TV and computer games are there routines. Some children, even though are genetically proned to have diabetes, due to physical activity and healthy diet they survive the chance. Very rarely they do not develop diabetes due to genetic mutation magics where the chance of them inheriting diabetes goes very down. But this is very very rare and not at all in our hands.
If you talk about type 1 diabetes then it also has many genetic disorders linked to it. It has less tendency to get inherited. If one parent has type 1 diabetes then less than 10 percent chance that the child will get type 1 diabetes and if both the parents have type 1 diabetes then there is about 30 percent chance that the child will get type 1 diabetes.
In case of MODY- maturity onset diabetes of the youngs- this type of diabetes depends on which gene is being inherited in the generations and that's how the next generation gets this type of diabetes which needs diagnosis and interventions by experienced Endocrinologists only. XXXXXXX I hope you got an idea. If you have specific query to be asked on this, please do so. I shall be more than happy to answer any related query. Take care.
The chance of a generation to have diabetes is always higher than the previous generation of theirs. If one parent has type 2 diabetes, more than 40 percent chance is that the child will have diabetes at an earlier age than the age the parent might have gotten diagnosed with diabetes. If both the parents have type 2 diabetes then more than 85 percent chance of the child to get diagnosed at around 40 years of age.
In Asian Indians, you can always assume these things happening faster in children one because of our genetics, two because of our lifestyle issues and three because of environment issues.
Well, some children would be more prone to type 2 diabetes when they were borne to mothers with gestational diabetes, they are overweight from the begining, they do not exercise and feed on junk meals, TV and computer games are there routines. Some children, even though are genetically proned to have diabetes, due to physical activity and healthy diet they survive the chance. Very rarely they do not develop diabetes due to genetic mutation magics where the chance of them inheriting diabetes goes very down. But this is very very rare and not at all in our hands.
If you talk about type 1 diabetes then it also has many genetic disorders linked to it. It has less tendency to get inherited. If one parent has type 1 diabetes then less than 10 percent chance that the child will get type 1 diabetes and if both the parents have type 1 diabetes then there is about 30 percent chance that the child will get type 1 diabetes.
In case of MODY- maturity onset diabetes of the youngs- this type of diabetes depends on which gene is being inherited in the generations and that's how the next generation gets this type of diabetes which needs diagnosis and interventions by experienced Endocrinologists only. XXXXXXX I hope you got an idea. If you have specific query to be asked on this, please do so. I shall be more than happy to answer any related query. Take care.
Note: For further follow-up, discuss your blood glucose reports with our diabetologist. Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties
