Late Oneset Type 1 - hereditary?

[Haggar]

Hello everyone, I wondered whether late onset type 1 diabetes was hereditary? My father developed it at age 55 and his father did too. However, given the period in history, we think his father (my grandpa) was diagnosed with type 2 mistakenly and it was actually type 1, as it took a year, then a team of doctors over a 10 day stay in hospital in critical condition for them to reach an agreement that it wasn't type 2 with my father! And that was only about 8 years ago. Anyway, I hear of families being routinely tested due to relatives with type 1 and was wondering whether this was the case with late onset? Then if so, whether my family should look at making our GP's aware and get tested routinely later on?

 

[Northerner]

I believe there is thought to be a genetic element to the risk of developing Type 1, and it often runs in families. As for late onset, I'm not sure. I was 49 when I was diagnosed, but as far as I know there is no family history. Maybe in your case there is some age-related trigger which causes it to manifest itself?

My elder sister recently reported that she had been found to have an HbA1c of 43 mmol/mol and, like me, she is very skinny and always has been - she certainly has none of the 'classic' characteristics of Type 2 and doesn't have any symptoms. She is being monitored currently in case, like me, things suddenly go haywire.

 

[Bronco Billy]

Although no conclusive proof has been found, type 1 is believed to have a genetic connection rather than a hereditary one. I’ve never heard of a link to age, although an increasing number of diagnosis are happening to people later in life.

 

[AJLang]

I’ve had Type 1 for 48 years and I’m not aware of any relative, past or present also having Type 1 Diabetes, including aunts, uncles, cousins etc.

 

[trophywench]

Nor me AJ - although my big sis was diagnosed T2 in her early to middle 50s after she'd had breast cancer apparently successfully treated so who knows what was the trigger for her. We did both wonder (though I'd been wondering off and on for years already) if it may have been a factor in my dad's mother's death, apparently of heart failure, in the late 1920's when he was a teenager (he was born in 1915) he'd also had a little sister who died when they were both little, who'd apparently always been 'sickly' ever since birth really. Neither of them appear on the 1910 Census and the 1920 one isn't public yet and everyone who might have known is now long gone. Don't think you can get hold of Death Certificates especially with very scant info anyway. My only record of my paternal grandad is his second marriage certificate in 1954 which my dad held whereas anything else went to his big sister, my auntie and then presumably to my only first cousin - now in her late 70s.

Funnily enough even now, your heart does tend to fail when you have undiagnosed and untreated diabetes!

 

[Northerner]

Although no conclusive proof has been found, type 1 is believed to have a genetic connection rather than a hereditary one. I’ve never heard of a link to age, although an increasing number of diagnosis are happening to people later in life.

Surely that's the same thing? We inherit our characteristics from out parents' genes being passed on.

 

[Robin]

Surely that's the same thing? We inherit our characteristics from out parents' genes being passed on.

Not necessarily, you can have a spontaneous gene mutation.
https://www.kelseygroup.com/hereditary-vs-genetic/

 

[mikeyB]

My mum was T1, diagnosed after having three kids, so around 30. I was 43.

I agree with Northie. It’s genetic, but not hereditary. It’s a subtle distinction, but it’s not common. Most late onset T1s are isolated in a familial sense. That’s why T1 is becoming slightly more common, but nowhere near as fast as T2.

T2s muddy up the gene pool by breeding before the onset of the diagnosis. Until the 1950s and 60s, most T1s couldn’t maintain a pregnancy to term. They can now, because care is so much better, so it will be interesting to see if the data changes on the genetic element - it may just be that that’s holding back what may be obvious.

 

[trophywench]

Well it might be genetic for you Mike and I suppose I shouldn't discard it being as my original surname was Sedger hence it is mainly associated with Norfolk, ROFL (apologies to anyone from there that doesn't have the commonly referred to traits for very Non PV comedic purposes) but his mom was a Postlethwaite so that doesn't seem to wash anyway!

Is 22 even considered 'Late Onset'?

 

[Northerner]

I read the other day that the peak age for diagnosis of T1 is 14. We've certainly got a lot of late-onset members here though, many of whom were misdiagnosed largely due to their age. As far as I've been able to tell (anecdotally, of course) late-onset is not actually particularly unusual.

As T1 is an autoimmune condition it often comes along with other autoimmune conditions, like Coeliac's and hypothyroidism. My Dad had quite bad psoriasis, also autoimmune, which took hold in his mid-40s. Is asthma autoimmune?

 

[mikeyB]

Yes, it is, technically, if the trigger is not a natural lung irritant.

I have a collection of autoimmune disorders. Four so far, waiting for the diagnosis on a possible fifth. Quite exciting, really. I think seven might be fatal, as in the ICU seven tubes rule. (If you don’t know it, it’s if you, or anyone you know, is in an ICU with seven or more tubes attached, next stop is underground).

That may be out of date, now. And oxygen masks and tubes don’t count.

 

[Bronco Billy]

Surely that's the same thing? We inherit our characteristics from out parents' genes being passed on.

Surely that's the same thing? We inherit our characteristics from out parents' genes being passed on.

When the medical bods talk about hereditary and genetic in this context, hereditary refers to, for example, a child getting type 1 because the parent has type 1. Genetic refers to the genetic make up of the individual.