Abstract

Summary
Background: The term “anticipation” in genetic diseases refers to earlier age at onset and/or increased severity
in successive generations. Several diseases with genetic anticipation include rheumatoid arthritis,Crohn’s disease, Schizophrenia, Graves’ disease and several other neuropsychiatric disorders. The
im of the present study was to investigate whether genetic anticipation may occur in diabetes.
Material/Methods: The medical records of 485 subjects with type 2 diabetes, seen in the Diabetes Clinic were screened for subjects with a family history of diabetes and also aware of a defi nite date of diagnosis for both the subject and their family member. Ninety-six parent-child pairs with a known defi nite date of diagnosis of type 2 diabetes were identifi ed and the age at onset of diabetes between two parentchild generations was compared.
Results: The age at diagnosis of the subjects with positive family history of diabetes was lower than those with no family history of diabetes (48.82±12 vs. 56.18±13; p

Keywords: Diabetes Complications - epidemiology, Diabetes Complications - genetics, Obesity - epidemiology, Adoption, Age of Onset, Diabetes Complications - genetics, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - genetics, Medical Records, Nuclear Family, Obesity - epidemiology