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Introduction. About 10% of Americans have Type 2 diabetes (T2D), which has made T2D a major public health problem in the United States. Both environmental and genetic factors contribute to diabetes risk, and adverse environmental factors may trigger genetic risk for T2D. For example, living in a neighborhood perceived as disordered exacerbated genetic risk for T2D in older adults. Although most T2D develops during late adulthood, recent trends suggest that more adolescents and young adults are developing it. The aim of the current study is to investigate whether young adults living in neighborhoods with higher crime rates triggers genetic risk for T2D among young adults.
Methods. Data were from the Wave IV (2008) National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), which is an ongoing nationally representative study that was initiated in 1994 with over 20,000 US adolescents. Weighted logistic regression analyses were conducted, in which county-level crime rates, T2D polygenic scores and their interaction predicted T2D. County-level crime rates from Uniform Crime Reporting were linked with each study participant record. Polygenic scores used in the current study were created using 2014 GWAS meta-analysis results. The identification of T2D was based on biological indicators (Glucose and HbA1c), self-reported history of diabetes, and anti-diabetic medication use. Age, sex, race, household income, concentrated advantage, and 5 principal components were adjusted in all analyses.
Results. A total of 8,588 young adults (age range 25 - 34) were included in the analyses. Results of model 1 indicated that people with higher polygenic scores for T2D had significantly elevated risk of T2D (OR=1.21, p=0.001). County-level crime rates alone were not significantly associated with T2D. In model 2, which added a gene x environment (G x E) interaction, we found that living in a neighborhood with high crime rates exacerbated genetic risk for T2D (OR=1.12, p=0.015).