Adiposity in 277 young adult male offspring of women with diabetes compared with controls: A Danish population-based cohort study

Objective. To examine the associations of maternal diabetes, overall and stratified according to treatment of diabetes, with weight-related outcomes at the time of military conscription, at age 18-20 years. Design & Setting. Cohort study of 277 Danish male offspring of mothers with recognized pre-gestational or gestational diabetes. As population-based controls we selected 870 men matched from the Civil Registration Office. Methods. Data on weight related outcomes were retrieved from the Danish military conscription registry. Main outcome measures. Military rejection due to adiposity and body mass index (BMI) at conscription. Results: Army rejection rate due to adiposity was 5.8% (n = 16) among 277 diabetes mellitus-exposed compared with 3.1% (n = 27) in 870 controls [risk difference 2.7 (95% confidence interval (CI): -0.3-5.7)] and mean BMI at conscription was 1.4 kg/m(2) (95% CI: 0.8-2.0) higher among those diabetes mellitus-exposed. In analyses adjusted for birthweight and gestational age, compared with controls, the BMI was 0.6 kg/m(2) (95% CI: -0.3-1.5) higher in sons of mothers with pre-gestational and 2.7 kg/m(2) (95% (CI): 0.9-4.5) higher with gestational diabetes. The greatest BMI difference was in offspring of mothers with gestational diabetes in whom insulin was initiated during pregnancy. We found no difference in conscript height. Conclusions: Compared with controls, male offspring of women with diabetes had a higher rejection rate due to adiposity and higher adult BMI. Subgroup analyses showed that the association was most pronounced in sons of mothers with gestational diabetes whereas pre-gestational diabetes was only weakly associated with higher offspring BMI.