Genetics and Diabetes (Joslin Diabetes Center)

Type 1 Diabetes Odds

Just who is at risk for developing type 1 diabetes? Here's a sampling of what Dr. Warram, a Lecturer in Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health, said is known:

• If an immediate relative (parent, brother, sister, son or daughter) has type 1 diabetes, one's risk of developing type 1 diabetes is 10 to 20 times the risk of the general population; your risk can go from 1 in 100 to roughly 1 in 10 or possibly higher, depending on which family member has the diabetes and when they developed it.
• If one child in a family has type 1 diabetes, their siblings have about a 1 in 10 risk of developing it by age 50.
• The risk for a child of a parent with type 1 diabetes is lower if it is the mother — rather than the father — who has diabetes. "If the father has it, the risk is about 1 in 10 (10 percent) that his child will develop type 1 diabetes — the same as the risk to a sibling of an affected child," Dr. Warram says. On the other hand, if the mother has type 1 diabetes and is age 25 or younger when the child is born, the risk is reduced to 1 in 25 (4 percent) and if the mother is over age 25, the risk drops to 1 in 100 — virtually the same as the average American.
• If one of the parents developed type 1 diabetes before age 11, their child's risk of developing type 1 diabetes is somewhat higher than these figures and lower if the parent was diagnosed after their 11th birthday.
• About 1 in 7 people with type 1 has a condition known as type 2 polyglandular autoimmune syndrome. In addition to type 1 diabetes, these people have thyroid disease, malfunctioning adrenal glands and sometimes other immune disorders. For those with this syndrome, the child's risk of having the syndrome, including type 1 diabetes, is 1 in 2, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

Caucasians (whites) have a higher risk of type 1 diabetes than any other race. Whether this is due to differences in environment or genes is unclear. Even among whites, most people who are susceptible do not develop diabetes. Therefore, scientists are studying what environmental factors may be at work. Genes influencing the function of the immune system are the most closely linked to type 1 diabetes susceptibility, regardless of race. One of those genes is HLA-DR. Most Caucasians with diabetes carry alleles (gene variants) 3 and/or 4 of the HLA-DR gene. The HLA-DR7 allele plays a role in diabetes in blacks, while HLA-DR9 allele is important in diabetes among Japanese.

Day at Incredible Pizza with JDRF

JDRF had a kick-off for the Walk to Cure Diabetes at Incredible Pizza. This will be the first year that both of my girls are participating as diabetics. The three of us have decided to volunteer this year instead of forming a team to walk. However, Amanda has created a page to raise money.  The walk will be at Shelby Farms on October 1. We will be at the information booth if you come out.

I have the most incredible story about Time. It has happened twice so I am going to post it. Amanda's cousin lives just around the corner. One night she was there and Time was here. Time started alerting. We told her that Amanda wasn't here. We let her out in case she needed to "take a break". We let her back in and she insisted on alerting. So, we called Amanda and asked her to check her blood. Her blood sugar was low. We laughed and thought that was really an incredible coincidence. Just the other night, she again was at her cousins. Both times Amanda was outside. Time alerted. Since Adrienne was home and is now a diabetic, we had Adrienne check her blood. All was normal. We let Time out to "take a break". She came back in still insisting on alerting. So, we call Amanda. She was in the pool, got out and checked her blood. She was at 58. Wow! I love our dog.