Previous maternal abortion, longer gestation, and younger maternal age decrease the risk of type 1 diabetes among male offspring

OBJECTIVE - To identify possible influences and interactions of perinatal d eterminants in the subsequent development of type 1 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - The data were obtained from children born in Denmark during the periods 1978-1982 and 1984-1986 and admitted to a Danish hospital with newly diagnosed ripe 1 diabetes between 1978 and 1995; 857 p atients fulfilled the criteria. The study was conducted by combining and an alyzing two national registries: the National Patient Registry and the Medi cal Birth Registry For each diabetic child, two control children were rando mly selected, matched by ser, time, and district of delivery. RESULTS - By multivariate logistic regression analysis, the following signi ficant determinants were identified. Male offspring showed decreased risk w hen born of mothers who had had one or more abortions (odds ratio [OR] 0.66 [95% CI 0.48-0.92]) and with long duration of gestation (linearly with OR 0.91 per week [0.85-0.99]), while increased risk was found for high materna l age (linearly with OR 1.03 per year [1.00-1.06]). Female offspring showed no such association. No significant differences between diabetic patients and control subjects were found with respect to paternal age, maternal pari ty, placental weight or any of the birth size parameters, or interventions and complications during delivery. CONCLUSIONS - The findings show that perinatal determinants may influence t he risk of subsequent development of ripe 1 diabetes in a sex-specific mann er.