Childhood adversity raises risk for type 2 diabetes
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Key takeaways:
- People who experience childhood adversity have a greater risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
- The elevated type 2 diabetes risk was greater for men than women.
People who experience more childhood adversity, such as family poverty, the illness or death of family member or negative family dynamics, have increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes in early adulthood, according to study findings.
“Childhood adversity may be contributing to the occurrence of type 2 diabetes in early adulthood,” Leonie K. Elsenburg, PhD, assistant professor in the section of epidemiology, department of public health at University of Copenhagen in Denmark, told Healio. “This is important to be aware of and may have ramifications for the prevention of type 2 diabetes in early adulthood. Prevention of childhood adversity, or the consequences of childhood adversity, may help prevent type 2 diabetes in early adulthood.”
Elsenburg and colleagues analyzed data from the Danish life course cohort study of 1,277,429 participants born between Jan. 1, 1980, and Dec. 31, 2001, who did not have type 1 or type 2 diabetes prior to age 16 years. Participants self-reported whether they experienced 12 types of adversity during childhood. Researchers divided the cohort into five groups based on adversity level. Of the respondents, 54% said they had low levels of childhood adversity, 20% said they experienced material deprivation in the form of family poverty or parental long-term unemployment during early childhood, 13% stated they faced material deprivation throughout childhood, 9% reported high levels of somatic illness or death in the family, and 3% reported high levels of adversity across all types. Type 2 diabetes diagnoses were obtained from three Danish registries.
The study was published in Diabetologia.
Of the cohort, 2,560 women and 2,300 men developed type 2 diabetes over a mean follow-up of 10.8 years. Compared with the low adversity group, all four higher adversity groups had higher rates of individuals with type 2 diabetes per 100,000.
Men who experienced early childhood material deprivation (adjusted HR = 1.45; 95% CI, 1.3-1.63), persistent material deprivation (aHR = 1.66; 95% CI, 1.49-1.86), high levels of somatic illness or death in the family (aHR = 1.76; 95% CI, 1.53-2.03) or high levels of adversity (aHR = 2.41; 95% CI, 2.04-2.85) had higher risks for type 2 diabetes than men with low levels of adversity. Similarly, women who reported early childhood material deprivation (aHR= 1.34; 95% CI, 1.21-1.49), persistent material deprivation (aHR = 1.51; 95% CI, 1.36-1.68), high levels of somatic illness or death in the family (aHR = 1.46; 95% CI, 1.28-1.67) or high levels of adversity (aHR = 1.58; 95% CI, 1.31-1.91) had higher risks for developing type 2 diabetes than women who experienced low childhood adversity. The associations were attenuated, but still significant, after further adjustments were made for parental education level.
“Associations between childhood adversity generally seemed stronger among men than among women,” Elsenburg said. “This may mean that childhood adversity contributes relatively more to the occurrence of type 2 diabetes in early adulthood among men than among women.”
Elsenburg said future research should focus on the mechanisms that explain the associations, as the data may be able to help inform interventions to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes for people who experienced childhood adversity.
For more information:
Leonie K. Elsenburg, PhD, can be reached at leonie.elsenburg@sund.ku.dk.
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