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Lifecourse weight patterns and adult-onset diabetes: the Glasgow Alumni and British Women's Heart and Health studies

International Journal of Obesity volume 30, pages 507–512 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

To examine the association between body weight measures across the lifecourse and the risk of adult-onset diabetes.

Methods:

We analysed data from the Glasgow Alumni Cohort and the British Women's Heart and Health Study (BWHHS). The former included 5571 men and women who had height and weight measured at university, and reported birthweight, mid- and later-life weight in a postal questionnaire. The BWHHS analysis included 4280 women who had height and weight measured in later adulthood and recalled their birthweight and early adult height and weight. Adult-onset diabetes was defined as doctor-diagnosed disease after age 30, either self-reported or abstracted from medical records.

Results:

Thirty nine women and 209 men (Glasgow Alumni study) and 314 women (BWHHS) had diabetes. Those with diabetes had lower mean birthweight than those without, although the differences were small. Individuals with diabetes were also shorter and heavier at all ages than those without diabetes. Being overweight during at least one time period in adult life was associated with an increased risk of diabetes, compared to those who were never overweight. While there was no age at which being overweight was particularly detrimental, the risk associated with being overweight was cumulative across the lifecourse.

Conclusions:

Being overweight at any point during life is associated with an increased risk of adult-onset diabetes. The cumulative nature of this association reinforces the need to prevent the development of excess weight at an early age to reduce diabetes prevalence in coming decades.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank participants in both studies. We are grateful for funding from the Stroke Association, Chest Heart and Stroke (Scotland), NHS R&D CVD Programme and World Cancer Research Fund who funded the follow up of the Glasgow Alumni Study and the Department of Health and British Heart Foundation who funded the BWHHS study. The Centre for Public Health Research, Massey University, is supported by a Programme Grant from the Health Research Council of New Zealand. DAL and PMcC are funded by UK Department of Health public health career scientist awards. BG is partly funded through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily any funding body. Part of this work was presented at the 3rd Conference on Epidemiological Longitudinal Studies in Europe (Bristol, 2004).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Public Health Research, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

    M Jeffreys

  2. Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, UK

    D A Lawlor, B Galobardes, S Kinra, S Ebrahim & G Davey Smith

  3. Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, The Queen's University of Belfast, UK

    P McCarron

Authors
  1. M Jeffreys
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  2. D A Lawlor
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  3. B Galobardes
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  4. P McCarron
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  5. S Kinra
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  6. S Ebrahim
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  7. G Davey Smith
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M Jeffreys.

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Author contributions

MJ and DAL conceived the idea, performed the analysis and drafted the first version of the manuscript. PMcC and GDS were responsible for setting up the Glasgow Alumni Study. DAL and SE were responsible for setting up the BWHHS. BG and SK are responsible for the continuing management of the Glasgow Alumni Study. All authors provided intellectual input and contributed to the final version of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

None

Ethics Approval

Ethics committee approval from MREC and all relevant LRECs was received and informed consent obtained for both studies.

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Jeffreys, M., Lawlor, D., Galobardes, B. et al. Lifecourse weight patterns and adult-onset diabetes: the Glasgow Alumni and British Women's Heart and Health studies. Int J Obes 30, 507–512 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803161

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