Q: Please tell me what is the possibility a girl will get diabetes if her mother had it at the age of 40 years?

A:The inheritance of Diabetes of adult onset (40 years) is complex and multifactorial. With history of occurrence of Diabetes in one parent the empirical risk of occurrence in the child is about 5-10%. These days there is very high prevalence of Diabetes in our country. Even without family history the Diabetes can occur even upto 10% of the population beyond age 40 years. It should also be kept in mind that Diabetes is a treatable disease. With appropriate control of blood sugars the people have normal life expectancy. And with knowledge of positive family history extra precautions can be taken. From the genetic point of view the family history of Diabetes does not pose any significant disease burden.