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IJE Advance Access originally published online on September 19, 2007
International Journal of Epidemiology 2008 37(1):185-192; doi:10.1093/ije/dym167
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2007; all rights reserved.

Importance of familial factors in associations between offspring birth weight and parental risk of type-2 diabetes

Niklas Bergvall*, Anna Lindam, Yudi Pawitan, Paul Lichtenstein, Sven Cnattingius and Anastasia Iliadou

Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.

* Correspondence author. Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska institutet, PO Box 281, SE - 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: niklas.bergvall{at}ki.se


  Abstract

Background: It is hypothesized that associations found between birth weight and subsequent risk of type-2 diabetes are due to inherited genes affecting both fetal growth and metabolism of insulin.

Methods: To study whether there is a familial (shared environmental and genetic) link between birth weight and type-2 diabetes, the authors used a sample of 11 411 Swedish like-sexed twins born from 1926 to 1958 with at least one offspring, to study the association between offspring birth weight for gestational age and parental risk of type-2 diabetes.

Results: Decreasing offspring birth weight for gestational age (with 1 SD) was associated with an increased risk of type-2 diabetes among father's [odds ratio (OR) = 1.72, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.33–2.23] and decreased risk among mothers (OR=0.43, 95% CI: 0.30–0.62), independent of grand parental and parental socio-economic status and parental smoking. In paired twin analysis, the association between offspring birth weight and mothers with risk of type-2 diabetes was similar within- and between-twin pairs, whereas father's risk was slightly smaller within than between pairs (ORBetween=1.90, 95% CI: 1.10–3.28, and ORWithin=1.71, 95% CI: 1.10–2.67, respectively).

Conclusions: The well-established association between paternal type-2 diabetes and offspring birth weight seems to primarily be due to as yet unidentified non-shared environmental factors. However, familial factors shared within twin pairs may contribute to the association.

Keywords Birth weight, diabetes mellitus, type 2, twins

Accepted 19 July 2007


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R. S Lindsay
Commentary: Type 2 diabetes and birth weight--genetic and environmental effects
Int. J. Epidemiol., February 1, 2008; 37(1): 192 - 193.
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