Parental History of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Lurking Genetic Threat

Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is presently the fastest growing disease and has been recognized to be caused by a collision between inherited parental genes and the environment. The current prevalence in Pakistan of type-2 diabetes mellitus is 26.3%. Out of them 19.2% had disease two to three decades back while 7.1% are recently diagnosed cases. Worldwide burden of disease was 415 million in 2015 and this number will increase to 642 million by 2040. Parental history of diabetes mellitus is a chief reason for the development of T2DM in children, but whether this association derives from shared genetic or environmental factors is unclear. Persistent high blood glucose levels can result in drastic outcomes like Diabetic Ketoacidosis and Hyperosmolar non ketotic syndrome. Genome-wide association analyses have uncovered multiple genomic regions associated with T2DM, but identification of the causal variants remains a challenge. This review will discuss the approach of diagnosing T2DM by analyzing the association of gene variants and family history.