This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information:
verify here.

Rewarding for
you and us
Defeat Diabetes Foundation

Defeat Diabetes
Foundation
150 153rd Ave,
Suite 300
Madeira Beach, FL 33708

Multiple Births Increase Risk for Type 2 Diabetes

Posted: Thursday, November 30, 2006

Women with five or more live births are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. This appears to be the case, even after adjusting for obesity and socioeconomic factors.

Dr. Wanda K. Nicholson and colleagues at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, came to that conclusion after conducting a prospective, population-based study of more than 7000 Caucasian and African-American women.

The subjects were between 45 and 64 years of age, and mean follow-up was for nine years. They were grouped according to parity, defined as nulliparous (including stillbirths and other non-live births), one to two live births, three to four live births, or grandmultiparous, with five or more live births.

There were 754 incident cases of type 2 diabetes during follow-up. Type 2 diabetes incidence rates were highest among the grandmultiparous, at 23 cases/1,000 person-years and lowest among women with one to two live births, at 11 cases/1,000 person-years.

The researchers acknowledge that the bulk of diabetes risk was due to obesity and lower socioeconomic status. However, after adjusting for these recognized risk factors as well as clinical status, inflammatory markers and lifestyle factors, grandmultiparity remained a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

Whether the link between high parity and diabetes is biological or due to lifestyle is unknown. The investigators conclude that the association may be better understood after prospective studies of "specific, pregnancy-related weight gain measures, lifestyle factors and changes in socioeconomic status."

Source: Diabetes In Control: Diabetes Care Nov 2006;29:2349-2354