The researchers analyzed 356,626 adults with prediabetes with average age 51 years for males 52% for females, and nearly 60% had obesity. More than half lived in multi-person households, allowing researchers to assess 364,563 co-residing household members — 238,247 adults and 126,316 children.
They found that there was a 65% risk factor for adult household members, and 35% of children developed diabetes, due to overweight or obesity. Also, 20% of adult household members had prediabetes based on laboratory results, and 12% had type 2 diabetes. For children, 285 cases of type 2 diabetes were identified, though prediabetes was not measured in this study.
The study found that almost 30,000 adults with type 2 diabetes lived in the same households as adults with prediabetes, but the authors note it’s unclear if those cases had already been diagnosed. “Of course, many of these people will have been diagnosed with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, but a significant number could be unaware of their diagnosis and thus could be identified by our study. These are huge numbers of people identified with both prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. If even only a small proportion of these are newly diagnosed, this would make a significant public health impact,” Dr Thomas explains, in a statement.
“For the children, parents might consider doing further tests in those cases where the children are living with overweight or obesity and have diabetes risk factors, but have not yet been diagnosed. It is also of cours,e an opportunity to make lifestyle changes to reduce the chances of metabolic complications in both adults and children,” she adds.