Both risk algorithms include information on family history of type 2 diabetes. However, family history reflects shared environment as well as genotype, and whereas biochemical and non-biochemical features associated with type 2 diabetes alter with age, genetic predisposition is determined at conception and fixed through life. Identifying genotypes that alter susceptibility to type 2 diabetes, and using them on their own or in combination with existing phenotype based risk algorithms, might therefore improve prediction of risk, particularly if genotypes identify differences in the activity of pathways unmeasured in non-genetic risk models.
