Heavier babies are more likely to develop childhood onset type 1 diabetes

Results of previous studies on the relation between birth weight and risk of type 1 diabetes have been inconsistent. By linking two nationwide registries, Stene et al (p 889) designed a large cohort study in which all births in Norway (over a 25 year period) were followed with respect to type 1 diabetes. Their results show a positive association across a wide range of birth weights, with an estimated increment in incidence of 1.7% per 100 g increase in birth weight. This indicates that birth weight may be a rough indicator of some other perinatal factor that is directly related to the risk of type 1 diabetes. It is not clear whether the observed association is causal or not.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Birth weight and childhood onset type 1 diabetes: population based cohort study

Lars C Stene, Per Magnus, Rolv T Lie, Oddmund Søvik, Geir Joner, and The Norwegian Childhood Diabetes Study Group
BMJ 2001 322: 889-892. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]