Study of lipid status in the euglycemic offsprings of diabetic parents with sex, age matched controls among South Indian population.

CONTEXT: Metabolic syndrome has a silent but a fatal course. So, if we are able to identify the subjects in the early course of the disease then we will be able to prevent them from fatal complications later. AIM: To study the lipid status among euglycemic offspring of diabetic parents by appropriately matching for sex, and age in controls. DESIGN: It is a case control study involving 52 subjects and 25 controls done in a tertiary care center in Chennai. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Using inclusion and exclusion criteria 52 euglycemic offspring as subjects and 25 controls were taken. Serum high density lipoprotein (HDL), serum triglycerides, blood pressure and waist circumference we obtained. The results were tabulated and studied. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Student t test was employed. RESULTS: Siblings of diabetic parents had lower levels of serum HDL. Odds ratio showed that offspring's of diabetic parents had the odds of having low HDL 4.67 times when compared to the controls with a confidence interval of 1.6001-13.6563, P value of 0.0048. The other parameters did not show any gross variation. Siblings of diabetic fathers had a more deranged profile than the siblings of diabetic mothers. CONCLUSION: There is significant association between parental diabetic status and dyslipidemia. If they are detected early then progress to complications can be delayed.

Time trend in frequency of occurrence of major immunophenotypes in paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia cases as experienced by Cancer Institute, Chennai, south India during the period 1989-2009.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a biologically heterogeneous disease and socioeconomic and environmental factors are considered to be an important determinant of its immunophenotype. The aim of this analysis is to study the time trend in the immunophenotype of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cases in our geographic setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 639 new pediatric ALL cases immunophenotyped during 1989-2009 forms the basis of this analysis. Representative bone marrow or peripheral blood of these patients was immunophenotyped flowcytometrically using an extensive panel of monoclonal antibodies. RESULTS: During early phase of our study we noticed a relative excess of T-ALL and a paucity of common acute lymphoblastic leukemia (C-ALL) in contrast to western data. Over a period of 20 years we witnessed a gradual reduction in pediatric T-ALL cases and a proportionate increase in C-ALL cases. CONCLUSION: We find that this change of pattern is synchronizing with the socioeconomic and industrial development prevailing in our geographic setting and suggest a possible link between the predominant immunophenotype of pediatric ALL cases and the environmental and socioeconomic factors prevailing in that locality.