Mother-Child Diabetes, Heart Risk Patterns
Differ by Ethnicity

Findings from a new CNRC study could help researchers design more effective programs to prevent heart disease and diabetes -- diseases predicted to take a heavy toll on today's overweight kids as they age.

"Our research expands upon past studies that found a relationship between parental and child risk factors, such as body weight, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure, by showing that these relationships differ by ethnicity," said Dr. Russell Jago, a CNRC behavioral scientist.

The study, which involved 133 pairs of African-American, Hispanic, and white mothers, and their 6- to 7-year-old children, was published in the December issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.

Jago's overall findings showed that a mother's waist circumference and body fatness, as measured by body mass index (BMI), were associated with the risk of her child being overweight by age 7, which are similar to the findings of past studies.

"However, when we broke the numbers down by ethnicity, this relationship was strong only in Hispanic pairs," Jago said. No association was found in African-American or white families.

Similarly, the mother-child relationship for elevated blood levels of insulin and cholesterol was strong only in the African-American pairs. High insulin and cholesterol levels, like BMI, are key risk factors in the development of cardiovascular disease, while obesity and high insulin levels raise the risk for diabetes.

The researchers also assessed whether mothers' physical activity levels influenced how active their children were. Their conclusion: no effect regardless of ethnicity.

According to Jago, the study findings could help others design more effective interventions to prevent obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. For example, family-centered interventions may be most effective among Hispanics, while other ethnic groups may respond to more child-specific strategies.

"We don't really know why the differences we found exist, or whether they are due to genes, environmental factors such as diet, or a combination." Jago said.

"However, the more we understand how mothers affect their children's risk for health problems, and how these effects may vary by ethnicity, the more effective we can be in helping kids stay healthy."