Diabetes multiplex risk in childhood‐onset diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Data from the Leicestershire diabetes register were used to assess the risk of diabetes multiplex in childhood‐onset diabetes mellitus in the county. Nineteen out of 186 White Caucasian families with a Type I diabetic sibling diagnosed before the age of 15, between 1980 and 1990 inclusive, had diabetes multiplex. The overall empirical risk of Type I diabetes multiplex was 9.1%, with a parent/sibling risk of 5.4% and a sibling/sibling risk of 3.8%. The risk to siblings calculated by proband exclusion and the Li‐Mantel estimation were 2.8% and 5.1% respectively. These resu Its suggest that diabetes multiplex is uncommon and family members should be so counselled. Environment appears to be more important than genetics in the aetiology of Type I diabetes.