Diabetes Risk Mitigated by Childhood Weight Loss

Boys with overweight who lose excess weight and achieve a healthy body mass index (BMI) before entering puberty can significantly lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes in adulthood, a new study has shown.

The authors of the study arrived at this finding following a study of 62,565 Danish men with available weight and height measurements from ages 7 and 13 years and from age 17 years to 26 years.
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Data on participants’ type 2 diabetes status was obtained from a national registry and assessed.

Results revealed positive associations between type 2 diabetes and overweight at ages 7 (n = 3373) and 13 years (n = 3418) and in early adulthood (n = 5108). These associations were strongest in men with overweight at an older age and a type 2 diabetes diagnosis at a younger age.

However, the researchers found that men with remission of overweight before age 13 years had a similar risk of adult-onset type 2 diabetes observed in men who had never been overweight (hazard ratio [HR] 0.96).

Men who had overweight at ages 7 and 13 years but not during early adulthood were found to have an increased risk of adult-onset type 2 diabetes between ages 30 and 60 years, but a lower risk than men with persistent overweight (HR 4.14 for persistent overweight vs never overweight).

The researchers also observed that any increase in BMI between age 7 years and early adulthood was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, even in men whose weight had been normal at age 7 years.

“Childhood overweight at 7 years of age was associated with increased risks of adult type 2 diabetes only if it continued until puberty or later ages,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Bjerregaard LG, Jensen BW, Ängquist L, Osler M, Sørensen TIA, Baker JL. Change in overweight from childhood to early adulthood and risk of type 2 diabetes. N Eng J Med. 2018;378:1302-1312. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1713231.