Low birthweight is an important risk factor for type 2 diabetes, contributing to development of the disease at a younger age and the need for more and stronger medications, according to two Danish studies.
Birthweight should be considered when screening for type 2 diabetes with the same importance as that of a family history of diabetes, researchers said.
In one study, researchers tracked 4,590 adults for an average of nearly 20 years, including 492 who developed type 2 diabetes, in which the pancreas decreases its production of insulin and cells in the body become less responsive to it.
People who weighed less at birth were at higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes, the researchers said. Conversely, every extra kilogram (2.2 pounds) of birthweight was linked to a 40% decrease in risk, they found.
The second study looked at birthweights of 6,866 people with type 2 diabetes. Each kilogram of weight at birth below at least 3.0 kg (6.6 pounds) was associated with onset of diabetes 3.3 years earlier.
In addition, people with low birthweight who developed type 2 diabetes did so at a lower adult body weight, on average, and with a smaller waist circumference, compared to those who developed the disease after being born at a higher weight.
A birthweight of less than 3 kg was also associated with a higher number of other medical conditions including severe high blood pressure.
"Low birthweight is a strong and non-genetic risk factor not only of developing type 2 diabetes (but also) for the development of a relatively more severe subtype of type 2 diabetes, with earlier disease onset, more complications, and co-morbidities," the researchers said in a statement.
Both studies were published on Monday in Diabetologica by researchers at the Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen in Herlev, Denmark.
