African ancestry linked to fasting glucose in people with no diabetes diagnosis
Minority Diabetes Reports Thursday, June 27th, 2013Clinical Endocrinology News June 24, 2013
Results from a large, ongoing epidemiologic study demonstrated a positive association between African ancestry and fasting glucose in individuals without diagnosed diabetes.
“This association is not substantively diminished by accounting for body mass index or available socioeconomic status measures, suggesting that differences between African Americans and whites in diabetes risk might include genetic/biologically mediated differences in glucose homeostasis,” Dr. James B. Meigs reported at the annual scientific sessions of the American Diabetes Association.
Dr. Meigs, who directs the Massachusetts General Hospital Clinical Research Program’s Disease Management Research Unit, presented findings from 1,545 individuals without diagnosed diabetes who are enrolled in the Boston Area Community Health (BACH) Pre-Diabetes Study, an ongoing, community-based, random-sample cohort study. During morning in-home interviews, the researchers collected data on body mass index and socioeconomic status, and took samples for analysis of fasting glucose and DNA for genotyping 63 markers that discriminate between European, African, and Native American ancestry. Read more
