RESUMO
The aim of the study was to investigate if the female offspring of patients with type 2 diabetes have more metabolic defects for developing diabetes mellitus than their male counterparts. Thirty-four offspring (10 males, 24 females) of patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus aged 28.9ñ 1.5 years (mean ñ SEM) underwent a standared oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT; 75 g glucose in 300 ml water). Antropometric indices, plasma lipids and blood pressure were measured while insulin resistance (IR) and sensitivity (percent S) were assessed using the Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA) method. All the offspring had normal glucose tolerance but high HOMA-derived IR values (27.2 ñ 4.2 vs 22.5 ñ 2.7 pmol/mmol/l, p>0.05) and low percent S (48.1 ñ 5.1 vs. 50.6 ñ 3.9 percent, p>0.05), all of which did not differ on gender comparisons. Multiple linear regression analyses suggest that gender had no influence on the outcome of the result (p = 0.37). Again, body mass index (BMI), fasting serum insulin, plasma glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol were all similar in both genders (p>0.05). The results suggest that though the offspring manifested metabolic defects for developing diabetes in later life, this susceptibility is independent of gender in the population studied. Further studies with a large sample size are warranted to confirm these finding in this population.(Au)