Childbearing Prior to Recognition of Diabetes: Recollected Birth Weights and Stillbirth Rate in Babies Born to Parents Who Developed Diabetes

Abstract

Of 2,348 children born to women who later developed diabetes, 12.6% had a recollected birth weight exceeding 10 lb. (4.5 kg), compared with 5% of a control group. The proportion of these heavy babies did not increase as the diagnosis approached and was as great 40 to 60 as 0 to 20 years before the diabetes was recognized. It was the same in each birth rank. Men show no increased tendency to father very large babies before the onset of diabetes. The stillbirth rate in the 5 years preceding the diagnosis of diabetes was 13.8% but before that period was not in excess of that in the general population.