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Parental diabetes and birth weight of offspring: intergenerational cohort study

2003; BMJ; Volume: 326; Issue: 7379 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/bmj.326.7379.19

0959-8138

Elina Hyppönen,

Pregnancy and preeclampsia studies

According to the fetal insulin hypothesis, shared genetic factors lead to suboptimal prenatal growth and to insulin resistance in the parent's later life. 1 If this is true, we expect non-insulin dependent diabetes in parents to be associated with lower birth weight among their offspring.Some evidence supports an inverse association between birth weight of offspring and paternal diabetes. 2 3The association between fetal macrosomia and a mother's diabetes during pregnancy has been established, 4 however this is likely to be caused by acute metabolic effects.We used data from the large cohort study of British births in 1958 to evaluate whether a father's non-insulin dependent diabetes or a mother's diabetes starting after childbirth is associated with the birth weight of their offspring.