September 1, 2001
Genetics and Heredity
Question from Akron, Ohio, USA:
My 32 year old husband has had type 1 diabetes since age 18, and I (age 31) have recently been diagnosed with hypothyroidism (which many family members on my mother’s side have). While we realize the risk of having a child with type 1 diabetes because my husband has it, is the risk compounded by my hypothyroidism? What would you recommend concerning genetic counseling?
Answer:
Other than the 6% risk of your offspring developing type 1 diabetes (because your husband has it), there are no epidemiological data on a further risk if the mother has hypothyroidism.
Genetic counseling is still a matter of research given the fact that we still have no proven way to prevent type 1 diabetes. See Injected Insulin Fails to Prevent Type 1 Diabetes. This doesn’t mean we have lost hope, but underlines the necessity to continue to try to find the best way to prevent diabetes in the framework of properly designed clinical trials that will include genetic as well as immune testing of populations at risk.
MS
