Affected Sibling Doubles Risk of Diabetic Nephropathy

Among subjects with type 1 diabetes, having a sibling with diabetic nephropathy doubles the risk that an individual will also have this renal complication. This finding, is based on an analysis of data from 537 Finnish families in which two or more siblings had type 1 diabetes. The 537 probands who were diagnosed with diabetes between 1965 and 1979 and their 616 diabetic siblings were followed through 2001 for the development of diabetic nephropathy.

A total of 323 cases of diabetic nephropathy occurred in the study group, lead author Dr. Valma Harjutsalo, from the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, and colleagues note.

The rates of diabetic nephropathy among siblings of affected and unaffected probands were 38% and 17%, respectively (p = 0.001). Subjects with a nephropathic sibling were 2.3 times more likely to develop the condition themselves compared with subjects lacking such a sibling. The elevated risk was even higher if severe nephropathy was present.

Other risk factors for diabetic nephropathy included male gender, being diagnosed with diabetes during puberty, and having a parent with type 2 diabetes.

"Our study represents the first longitudinal population-based study of diabetic nephropathy among siblings of type 1 diabetic patients," the authors state. Although most diabetic sibling pairs are discordant for the renal disease, having an affected sibling doubles a person’s risk, they add.

Diabetes 2004;53:2449-2454

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