Caesarean babies at risk of diabetes

Aug 26 2008

New research from the UK is suggesting that babies born by Caesarean section have a 20% higher risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

The researchers reached this conclusion after examining some 20 studies on children with type 1 diabetes who were born by Caesarean.

Type 1 diabetes can first appear in early childhood and usually occurs in 3 in 1,000 children, but the numbers are rising and scientists are unsure why.

There has also been a rise in the popularity of Caesarean births, as mothers choose to delay motherhood, and this could explain the increase in the incidence of type-1 diabetes across the UK.

Currently, 24% of pregnancies in England are delivered by Caesarean, well above the World Health Organisation's recommendation of 15%.

While many Caesareans are performed to the protect mother or the child during delivery, the suspicion persists that doctors may be too eager to recommend Caesareans in some cases, and that some mothers opt for them for non-medical reasons.

The researchers say type 1 diabetes in childhood has become more prevalent across Europe recently, and the rate of this increase suggests that environmental factors are the cause.

The researchers from Queen's University Belfast say that even after adjusting for other risk factors such as birth weight and whether the baby was breast-fed or not, the 20% higher risk remained.

Lead researcher Dr. Chris Cardwell, says the reason for this is still not understood but it is possible that the Caesareans section itself is responsible, perhaps because babies born via that method are first exposed to bacteria originating from the hospital environment rather than to maternal bacteria.