Skip to main content
The BMJ logoLink to The BMJ
. 1996 Nov 9;313(7066):1174–1177. doi: 10.1136/bmj.313.7066.1174

Intrauterine growth pattern and risk of childhood onset insulin dependent (type I) diabetes: population based case-control study.

G Dahlquist 1, S S Bennich 1, B Källén 1
PMCID: PMC2352527  PMID: 8916747

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether prenatal growth affects the risk of development of childhood onset insulin dependent (type I) diabetes mellitus. DESIGN: Population based case-control study. SETTING: Data from a nationwide childhood diabetes case register were linked with data from the nationwide Swedish Medical Birth Registry. SUBJECTS: Data from a total of 4584 diabetic children born after 1973 and diagnosed with diabetes from 1978 to 1992 were studied. For each child with insulin dependent diabetes three control children were randomly selected from among all infants born in the same year and at the same hospital as the proband. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Birth weight, gestation, maternal age and parity, number of previous spontaneous abortions, and sex specific birth weight by gestational week expressed as multiples of the standard deviation (SD). RESULTS: There was a clear trend in the odds ratio for childhood onset diabetes according to SD of birth weight. The odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for small for gestational age after stratification for maternal age, parity, smoking habits, and maternal diabetes was 0.81 (0.65 to 0.99) and for large for gestational age after similar stratification was 1.20 (1.02 to 1.42). CONCLUSIONS: Intrauterine conditions that affect prenatal growth seem also to affect the risk of development of childhood diabetes in the way previously described for postnatal growth: a poor growth decreases and an excess growth increases the risk. The mechanism for this association is unclear.

Full text

PDF
1174

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Andersson D. K., Svärdsudd K., Tibblin G. Prevalence and incidence of diabetes in a Swedish community 1972-1987. Diabet Med. 1991 Jun;8(5):428–434. doi: 10.1111/j.1464-5491.1991.tb01626.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Barker D. J., Hales C. N., Fall C. H., Osmond C., Phipps K., Clark P. M. Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia (syndrome X): relation to reduced fetal growth. Diabetologia. 1993 Jan;36(1):62–67. doi: 10.1007/BF00399095. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Blom L., Dahlquist G., Nyström L., Sandström A., Wall S. The Swedish childhood diabetes study--social and perinatal determinants for diabetes in childhood. Diabetologia. 1989 Jan;32(1):7–13. doi: 10.1007/BF00265397. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Blom L., Persson L. A., Dahlquist G. A high linear growth is associated with an increased risk of childhood diabetes mellitus. Diabetologia. 1992 Jun;35(6):528–533. doi: 10.1007/BF00400480. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cnattingius S., Ericson A., Gunnarskog J., Källén B. A quality study of a medical birth registry. Scand J Soc Med. 1990 Jun;18(2):143–148. doi: 10.1177/140349489001800209. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Dahlquist G., Gustavsson K. H., Holmgren G., Hägglöf B., Larsson Y., Nilsson K. O., Samuelsson G., Sterky G., Thalme B., Wall S. The incidence of diabetes mellitus in Swedish children 0-14 years of age. A prospective study 1977-1980. Acta Paediatr Scand. 1982 Jan;71(1):7–14. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1982.tb09364.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Dahlquist G., Källén B. Maternal-child blood group incompatibility and other perinatal events increase the risk for early-onset type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. Diabetologia. 1992 Jul;35(7):671–675. doi: 10.1007/BF00400261. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Johansson C., Samuelsson U., Ludvigsson J. A high weight gain early in life is associated with an increased risk of type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. Diabetologia. 1994 Jan;37(1):91–94. doi: 10.1007/BF00428783. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Karvonen M., Tuomilehto J., Libman I., LaPorte R. A review of the recent epidemiological data on the worldwide incidence of type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. World Health Organization DIAMOND Project Group. Diabetologia. 1993 Oct;36(10):883–892. doi: 10.1007/BF02374468. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Källén B. A birth weight for gestational age standard based on data in the Swedish Medical Birth Registry, 1985-1989. Eur J Epidemiol. 1995 Oct;11(5):601–606. doi: 10.1007/BF01719316. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Nyström L., Dahlquist G., Rewers M., Wall S. The Swedish childhood diabetes study. An analysis of the temporal variation in diabetes incidence 1978-1987. Int J Epidemiol. 1990 Mar;19(1):141–146. doi: 10.1093/ije/19.1.141. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from BMJ : British Medical Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES