McGill study finds children of parents with diabetes are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes

A recent study at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) has found that children of mothers with gestational diabetes or fathers with type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes.

“In Canada, a quarter of children with type 1 diabetes are diagnosed late, often presenting with diabetic ketoacidosis—a life-threatening but preventable condition,” says senior author Dr. Kaberi Dasgupta, Senior Scientist in the Metabolic Disorders and Complications Program at The Institute.

“Since population-wide or genetic screening for early detection hasn’t yet proven cost-effective, it’s crucial that we identify clear, accessible risk factors to accelerate type 1 diabetes detection.”

The study, which was published in EClinicalMedicine found that children whose mothers had gestational di