Abstract

AIMS:

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the human ADRA2A gene have been associated with increased risk of Type 2 diabetes. The associations between the rs553668 polymorphism and fasting glucose concentrations both cross-sectionally and longitudinally after 6-year follow-up were evaluated in an adult Caucasian population-based cohort.

METHODS:

From a cohort of 1658 individuals, after excluding patients with diabetes, those who died and those whose blood samples were not available for genotyping, data of 1345 individuals were analysed.

RESULTS:

Subjects homozygous for the A allele showed significantly increased baseline fasting glucose values and a significant worsening of fasting glucose (β = 0.48; 95% CI 0.10-0.86) and insulin secretion (β =-20.75; -32.67 to -8.82 for homeostasis model assessment for β-cell function) at follow-up by using generalized estimating equations. Incidence of impaired fasting glucose and diabetes was almost twofold higher in subjects homozygous for the A allele (respectively: incident impaired fasting glucose 7.6-8.2, 16.1%, incident diabetes 1.7-2.3, 3.2% in GG, AG, AA carriers).

CONCLUSIONS:

Our results suggested that the rs553668 polymorphism is associated with glucose worsening in subjects without diabetes at baseline.

© 2011 The Authors. Diabetic Medicine © 2011 Diabetes UK.