A new prospective cohort study observes that low birth weight and unhealthy habits in adulthood are associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. Researchers looked at nearly 150,000 healthcare professionals without diabetes, and found that during 20 to 30 years of follow-up, there were about 11,700 new cases of type 2 diabetes. Lighter newborns had a higher risk of developing the disease, with a relative risk of 1.45 per kg of lower birth weight (95% CI 1.32-1.59).

Unhealthy lifestyle factors were associated with a relative risk of 2.10 (95% CI 1.71-2.58), and when the two were combined, there was a relative risk of 2.86 (95% CI 2.26-3.63). The attributable proportions of joint effect were 22% (95% CI18.3% to 26.4%) to lower birth weight alone, 59% (57.1% to 61.5%) to unhealthy lifestyle alone, and 18% (13.9% to 21.3%) to their interaction.

The finding suggests that most cases of type 2 diabetes could be prevented by the adoption of a healthier lifestyle and simultaneous improvement of both prenatal and postnatal factors could further prevent additional cases.

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