Issue 97 Item 9 Height may Increase Diabetes Risk

Taller kids are at increased risk for Type 1 diabetes. Kids who are taller than their peers may be at increased risk for developing type 1 diabetes, a new study reports. Researchers say the reason may lie in their genes — taller kids in the study also had taller parents.

Scientists know children who eventually develop type 1 diabetes first exhibit increased insulin secretion before the first symptoms occur. This increased insulin secretion could, in turn, lead to increased growth in terms of height. While previous studies have looked at the height of children who are diagnosed with diabetes, results have been inconclusive.

Investigators from the University of Illinois studied 451 children who were being seen at a pediatric diabetes clinic and compared data on them with growth information on more than 10,000 children enrolled in a national nutrition study.

Results showed children with diabetes were actually shorter than their non-diabetic peers during their first year of life. However, from age 3 until they reached puberty, the diabetic children were taller.

Most of the excess height, however, was attributed to the fact that these children had taller parents. The researchers say this is the most likely explanation for the link found between childhood diabetes and a taller stature, explaining that increased parental height leads to increased childhood height, which increases the risk for diabetes. SOURCE: Pediatrics, 2002;109:479-483