Genes Only Slightly Helpful For Predicting Diabetes
The studies included more than 20,000 men and women who were followed for 20 to 30 years to see if they developed diabetes. In both studies, the gene variants’ predictive effect was more powerful for younger people.
However, experts say that genetic testing is probably not very useful in young adults, and probably not in children either. (The studies did not include kids.)
It’s not clear how much genetic testing of children would cost, says Richard Hellman, MD, an endocrinologist in North Kansas City, Mo., who was not involved in the new research. Plus, diabetes is a complex disorder and even testing for a dozen or so genetic variants may not be all that helpful.
“As many as 500 genotypic variants are at play in the development of type 2 diabetes; it’s usually not a single one,” he says. “Lots of factors are playing a role.”
Although more research is needed about type 2 diabetes and children, the disease is still relatively rare in kids, says John Buse, MD, director of the Diabetes Care Center at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. “It would be hard to justify massive screening without a specific trial in that regard.”
For now, the studies seem to have little application in the real world. The findings are “too premature” to help individual people figure out their own risk, according to Dr. Lyssenko.
However, Dr. Hellman still sees it as good news for patients. “It says that there’s much more that we can do to change the course,” he says. “It isn’t just, ‘This is your genotype and this is your destiny.’”
Dr. Lyssenko agrees. “We may not be able to change our genes, but genes only work in concert with the environment, and we can change the environment; we can still improve our future by healthy diet and exercise.”
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