A case-control study was conducted to investigate the association between family history of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes and the co-occurrence of metabolic disorders associated with the multiple metabolic syndrome (MMS). Included were 1,448 African and European American men and women aged 48-71 who participated in both the third cohort examination of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, 1992-1994, and phase I of the Family Heart Study 1993-1995. The joint occurrence of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes or impaired fasting glucose in an individual determined his/her status of "affected" (MMS: n = 97), while the absence of these three metabolic disorders determined his/her status of "unaffected" (
Control: n = 527). First-degree relatives provided the information to calculate family risk scores (FRSs) for the phenotypes under study: obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Although the majority of cases were obese (76.3%), family history of obesity was associated only weakly with the MMS, while family history of diabetes, or hypertension was associated significantly with the MMS (controlling for age, race, gender, and sampling group). Obesity of cases and controls modified the strength of these associations-odds ratios were 2.5(95% CI:1.1-6.1) and 2.9(95% CI:1.2-7.0) for the diabetes and hypertension FRSs in the non-obese, while in obese individuals the respective odds ratios were 1.6(95% CI:0.9-2.8) and 1.7(95% CI:0.9-3.1). These results may imply that obesity, whether familial or environmental in nature, is associated with the development of the MMS, while in non-obese individuals a family history of diabetes, hypertension, or obesity is a marker of genetic predisposition to components of the MMS.
Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.