Associations of Clinical Risk Factors and Novel Biomarkers With Age at Onset of Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

Context: Younger onset of type 2 diabetes (T2D) was associated with higher risks of vascular complications and mortality.

Objective: To prospectively assess risk profiles for incident T2D stratified by age at onset.

Methods: A total of 471 269 participants free of T2D at baseline were included from the UK Biobank. Approximately 70 clinical, lipid, lipoprotein, inflammatory, and metabolic markers, and genetic risk scores (GRSs) were analyzed. Stratified Cox proportional-hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for T2D with age of diagnosis divided into 4 groups (≤50.0, 50.1-60.0, 60.1-70.0, and >70.0 years).

Results: During 11 years of follow-up, 15 805 incident T2D were identified. Among clinical risk factors, obesity had the highest HR at any age, ranging from 13.16 (95% CI, 9.67-17.91) for 50.0 years and younger to 4.13 (3.78-4.51) for older than 70.0 years. Other risks associated with T2D onset at age 50.0 years and younger included dyslipidemia (3.50, 2.91-4.20), hypertension (3.21, 2.71-3.80), cardiovascular disease (2.87, 2.13-3.87), parental history of diabetes (2.42, 2.04-2.86), education lower than college (1.89, 1.57-2.27), physical inactivity (1.73, 1.43-2.10), smoking (1.38, 1.13-1.68), several lipoprotein particles, inflammatory markers, liver enzymes, fatty acids, amino acids, as well as GRS. Associations of most risk factors and biomarkers were markedly attenuated with increasing age at onset (P interaction <.05), and some were not significant for onset at age older than 70.0 years, such as smoking, systolic blood pressure, and apolipoprotein B.

Conclusion: Most risk factors or biomarkers had stronger relative risks for T2D at younger ages, which emphasizes the necessity of promoting primary prevention among younger individuals. Moreover, obesity should be prioritized.

Keywords: age at onset; biomarkers; cohort study; obesity; risk factors; type 2 diabetes.