Type 1 diabetes risk in children born to women with fertility problems: a cohort study in 1.5 million Danish children

INTRODUCTION: While some studies have indicated that children born following fertility treatment are at an increased risk for insulin resistance and higher blood glucose levels, no study to date has investigated the risk of type 1 diabetes. In this large population-based cohort study we aim to assess the association between maternal fertility problems and the risk of type 1 diabetes in children.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Information on all children, born in Denmark from 1987 to 2010, was extracted from the Civil Registration System and linked with the Danish Infertility Cohort to identify maternal fertility status. Diabetes information was obtained from the National Patient Register and the Childhood Diabetes Register. A Cox proportional hazard model was used to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals.

RESULTS: A total of 1 550 519 children made up the study cohort, of whom 110 393 (7.1%) were born to women with fertility problems. In all, 313 children born to women with fertility problems (0.36%) and 5176 children born to women without fertility problems (0.28%) were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The risk of type 1 diabetes was not affected by maternal fertility status (hazard ratio 1.01, 95% CI 0.90-1.13) when taking into account birth year, sex, history of parental diabetes, parental age and age at diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed no association between maternal fertility problems and risk of type 1 diabetes in children.