Diabetes Genetic Clusters and Clinical Outcomes in American Indians

Diabetes is highly prevalent in American Indians and a main cause of morbidity and mortality, and its clinical heterogeneity can be uncovered using genetic data. We are interested in identifying type 1 versus type 2 diabetes in American Indians with diabetes and identifying biological mechanisms for type 2 diabetes that are related to clinical outcomes using genetic data. Using genetic data, we found a high probability of participants having type 2 diabetes. We identified similar associations of type 2 diabetes genetic clusters, that are related to biological mechanisms, with cardiometabolic traits as previously described in other populations, but no associations of genetic clusters with cardiovascular and kidney outcomes. Our findings support type 2 diabetes as the main cause of diabetes in our American Indian cohort and provide insights into improvements using genetic data to uncover type 2 biological mechanisms.