Diabetes, Metabolic Disorder Risk Heightened in Early Term Newborns

Early-term birth is associated with increased risk of diabetes and obesity-related illnesses, according to the results of a recent study.

For their study, the researchers conducted a population-based cohort analysis involving 54,073 early term births from 1991 through 2013 at a single medical center. Endocrine and metabolic morbidity up to age 18 years was evaluated.
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Overall, endocrine and metabolic morbidity, specifically overweight and obesity, were significantly more common in the early term group (0.51% vs 0.41%). Significantly higher rates of type 1 diabetes were also observed in children older than 5 years who were born early term.

Using the Weibull parametric survival model, after controlling for siblings, maternal diabetes, hypertension, labor induction, and Apgar score, early term delivery was independently association with long-term childhood endocrine and metabolic morbidity of the early term infants.

“Deliveries occurring at early term are associated with higher rates of long-term pediatric endocrine and metabolic morbidity of the offspring as compared with deliveries occurring at a later gestational age. This association may be due to absence of full maturity of the hormonal axis in early term neonates or, alternatively, suggest an underlying fetal endocrine dysfunction as the initial mechanism responsible for spontaneous early term delivery,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Levy DP, Sheiner E, Wainstock T, et al. Evidence that children born at early term (37-38 6/7 weeks) are at increased risk for diabetes and obesity-related disorders [published online July 17, 2017]. AJOG. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2017.07.015.