What Increases Your Risk
Risk factors for
include:
- Family history of type 1 diabetes. Having a family history of the disease increases the chance
that a person will have
, but it does not predict that a
person will have the disease. Only about 10% to 15% of people with type 1
diabetes have a family history of the disease.2
- If the father has the disease, a child has
a 6% risk of developing it.
- If a sibling has the disease, a child
has a 5% risk of developing it.
- If the mother has the disease, a
child has a 3% risk of developing it.
- If an identical twin has the
disease, the other twin has a 25% to 50% risk of developing it.
- Race. White people have a
greater risk for developing type 1 diabetes than black, Asian, or Hispanic
people.
- Presence of islet cell antibodies in the blood. People who have both a family history of type 1 diabetes and
islet cell antibodies in their blood are likely to develop the disease at some
time.