Maternal Early-Life Risk Factors and Later Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the UAE Healthy Future Study (UAEHFS).
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2022 ; 19: .
Juber NF, Abdulle A, AlJunaibi A, AlNaeemi A, Ahmad A, Leinberger-Jabari A, Al Dhaheri AS, AlZaabi E, Mezhal F, Al-Maskari F, AlAnouti F, Alsafar H, Alkaabi J, Wareth LA, Aljaber M, Kazim M, Weitzman M, Al-Houqani M, Ali MH, Oumeziane N, El-Shahawy O, Sherman S, AlBlooshi S, Shah SM, Loney T, Almahmeed W, Idaghdour Y, Ali R
DOI : 10.3390/ijerph191610339
PubMed ID : 36011972
PMCID : PMC9408157
URL : https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10339
Abstract
Limited studies have focused on maternal early-life risk factors and the later development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We aimed to estimate the GDM prevalence and examine the associations of maternal early-life risk factors, namely: maternal birthweight, parental smoking at birth, childhood urbanicity, ever-breastfed, parental education attainment, parental history of diabetes, childhood overall health, childhood body size, and childhood height, with later GDM. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study using the UAE Healthy Future Study (UAEHFS) baseline data (February 2016 to April 2022) on 702 ever-married women aged 18 to 67 years. We fitted a Poisson regression to estimate the risk ratio (RR) for later GDM and its 95% confidence interval (CI). The GDM prevalence was 5.1%. In the fully adjusted model, females with low birthweight were four times more likely (RR 4.04, 95% CI 1.36-12.0) and females with a parental history of diabetes were nearly three times more likely (RR 2.86, 95% CI 1.10-7.43) to report later GDM. In conclusion, maternal birthweight and parental history of diabetes were significantly associated with later GDM. Close glucose monitoring during pregnancy among females with either a low birth weight and/or parental history of diabetes might help to prevent GDM among this high-risk group.