Type 2 diabetes associated with intrauterine exposure to diabetes, obesity

Exposure to diabetes and obesity in utero is linked to type 2 diabetes in adolescents, independent of diabetes during pregnancy, according to recent data.

According to researchers from the University of Colorado Denver and other sites in the United States, intrauterine exposure to maternal obesity and to diabetes are important determinants of type 2 diabetes in non-Hispanic, Hispanic and black adolescents.

Using data from the case-controlled SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, the researchers conducted a research visit with 79 adolescents with type 2 diabetes and 190 non-diabetic controls. The participants were aged between 10 and 22 years.

Of those with type 2 diabetes, 30.4% were exposed to maternal diabetes and 57% to maternal overweight/obesity in utero, compared with 6.3% and 27.4% of controls (P<.0001).

Compared with controls, adolescents with type 2 diabetes were more likely to have been exposed to maternal diabetes with an OR of 7.3 (95% CI, 3.2-16.8; P<.0001). In utero exposure to maternal obesity was also more likely among participants with type 2 diabetes, compared with controls (OR=3.6; 95% CI, 1.9-6.4; P<.0001).

The association between in utero exposure to obesity and type 2 diabetes was insignificant after adding the participants’ current BMI scores (OR=1.1; 95% CI, 0.5-2.4).

The researchers called for preventive measures to target the growing number of pregnancies complicated by obesity and diabetes.

Diabetes Care. 2008;31:1422-1426.