Type 1 diabetes and perinatal factors in Catalonia (Spain).

AIM

To identify perinatal risk factors associated with the development of type 1 diabetes.

METHODS

The research was designed as a retrospective study of cases and controls. Catalan Register of Diabetes and the Register of Newborn Screening for Metabolic Diseases were the data sources used in this study. The variables studied include sex, birth weight, age of onset of type 1 diabetes, maternal age at delivery, type of delivery, and type of feeding at birth. Anthropometric growth patterns of Carrascosa have been used to classify birth weight as small for gestational age: weight <10th percentile; appropriate for gestational age: weight ≥10th percentile and ≤90th percentile; and large for gestational age (LGA): weight >90th percentile. Statistical analysis was carried out using bivariate analysis (chi-squared test), and odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were predicted.

RESULTS

A total of 1530 infants were analyzed (306 type 1 diabetes cases, 1224 control subjects). A significantly greater percentage of LGA babies were observed among diabetics (16.3% compared with 11.3% of the control group). The risk of having type 1 diabetes in children who were LGA was 1.45 times greater than that shown in children with normal and low birth weight.

CONCLUSIONS

Only being born LGA was significantly associated with developing type 1 diabetes.