Abstract
In several populations, maternal age at delivery and birth order have been demonstrated
to variously affect the risk of Type 1 diabetes mellitus in the offspring. The aim
of the present study was to investigate this relation in the Czech population. Questionnaire
data on 640 children with childhood-onset Type 1 DM and data on 50 random controls
to each case, obtained from the national Birth Registry and matched for the calendar
year of birth, were analysed using multivariate logistic regression. The risk of Type
1 DM increases with higher maternal age at birth of the child (OR = 1.07, CI 95 %
1.05 - 1.09 per one year increment), and decreases with higher birth order (OR = 0.70,
CI 95 % 0.62 - 0.79 per increment in birth order). There was no significant difference
in these effects across the five-years bands of age at diabetes onset. We detected
no independent effect of maternal education, either. Our study provides further evidence
that the risk of Type 1 diabetes in the offspring increases with higher maternal age
at delivery and lower birth order.
Key words
Type 1 diabetes - non-genetic risk - maternal age at delivery - birth order
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Ph.D. Ondrej Cinek
Department of Paediatrics, 2nd Medical School
V Uvalu 84
Prague 5
The Czech Republic
Telefon: + 42024432001
Fax: + 42 0 24 43 20 20
eMail: Ondrej.Cinek@Lfmotol.cuni.cz