What's your birth sign?

Astrology has nothing to do with diabetes, as far as we know, but the season in which a baby is born may play a role.

In a session today on Genetics and Emerging Epidemiology, Dr. Henry S. Kahn of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Diabetes Translation and colleagues reported on a study in which they compared birth data on the more than 10,000 children with diabetes in the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study. The children were born between 1982 and 2003.

Results were inconclusive for the 15% of those in the study who developed type 2 diabetes, but in the 85% of children who developed type 1 diabetes, there was a seasonal pattern in birth month that peaks in the spring and drops in the fall.

For instance, the researchers found babies born in May in the U.S. are 10% more likely to develop type 1 diabetes than those born in November. The finding was strongest among children born in the northern part of the U.S., Dr. Kahn said.

Why there would be seasonal differences is not known, he said, but it could relate to exposure to infectious agents, mother's diet or exposure to solar radiation, he said. Clarifying the role of environmental influences "could lead to interventions for reducing type 1 diabetes,'' he said.

Some reports from Europe and the Southern Hemisphere have found a similar pattern, though others have not.

Earlier this week, Jaakko Tuomilehto of the University of Helsinki said that in Finland, there are fewer babies born in June and July who go on to develop type 1 diabetes, but no difference in incidence during the rest of the year.

Comments

[Juanita McKenzie]

I'm type 2 and having a very difficulty controlling
my sugar. Could you give me some info. I cannot take metformin due to bowel
problems. I'm taking Amaryl, Glipizide and Actos.

[Steve]

I find this interesting because it suggests environmental/climate possibilities as a cause.