Neonatal delivery weight and risk of future maternal diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between neonatal delivery weight and future risk of maternal type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

METHODS: Data included in the Swedish Medical Birth Registry and Swedish National Diabetes Registry were merged to include all women born during 1930-1989; patients with pre-existing diabetes or gestational diabetes were excluded. Cox regression analyses were performed to identify associations between the neonatal delivery weight from the most recent pregnancy and later occurrence of diabetes.

RESULTS: There were 1 873 440 patients included in the analyses. An increased risk of type 1 (hazard ratio 3.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.23-4.01) or type 2 diabetes (hazard ratio 2.77, 95% CI 2.68-2.87) was observed among patients who had a large for gestational age neonate compared with patients who had neonates within one standard definition of the mean weight for gestational age; the odds of developing type 1 (odds ratio 10.27, 95% CI 7.37-14.31) or type 2 diabetes (odds ratio 8.50, 95% CI 6.01-12.02) within 1 year of delivery was also increased compared with patients who had a neonate within one standard deviation of the mean weight for gestational age.

CONCLUSIONS: Delivering a large for gestational age neonate was a potent risk factor for the later development of maternal type 1 or type 2 diabetes.