Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jun;77(1):48-56.
doi: 10.1007/s12020-022-03057-0.

Prenatal and early life factors and type 1 diabetes

Alexia G Abela  1 , Stephen Fava  2
Affiliations

Prenatal and early life factors and type 1 diabetes

Alexia G Abela et al. Endocrine. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of type 1 diabetes is increasing worldwide, suggesting that unknown environmental factors are becoming increasingly important in its pathogenesis.

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the possible role of a number of prenatal and perinatal factors in the aetiology of type 1 diabetes.

Methods: Mothers of patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (cases) and mothers of children born on the same day and of the same sex as type 1 diabetes patients (controls) were interviewed on a number of prenatal and perinatal factors of interest.

Results: Hand washing prior to eating, frequency of bathing and total stress score were found to be positively associated with the development of type 1 diabetes on univariate analyses. Hand-washing prior to eating and frequency of house cleaning were independently associated with an increased risk of type 1 diabetes, whilst getting dirty was associated with a reduced risk in multivariate analyses. There was no association of type 1 diabetes to removing of outdoor shoes indoors or to the age of first attendance to school or pre-school. There were also no significant associations to parental smoking, parental age, birth order, infant feeding, antibiotic use, mode of delivery or birth weight.

Conclusion: Our data suggest that factors that affect the skin or gut microbiome might be more important than infections or factors affecting the microbiome at other sites.

Keywords: Environmental factors; Hygiene hypothesis; Microbiome; Psychological stress; Type 1 diabetes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Frequency of hand washing prior to eating for type 1 diabetes patients and controls. ‘p’ value refers to the statistical significance of the difference in the frequency distribution between subjects with type 1 diabetes and controls as assessed by the χ2 test
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Frequency of bathing for type 1 diabetes patients and controls. ‘p’ value refers to the statistical significance of the difference in the frequency distribution between subjects with type 1 diabetes and controls as assessed by the χ2 test
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Number of life events in the Holmes and Rahe Non-Adult Stress Scale for type 1 diabetes patients and controls until the age at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. ‘p’ value refers to the statistical significance between subjects with type 1 diabetes and controls as assessed by the χ2 test
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Total stress score in life change units on the Holmes and Rahe Non-Adult Stress Scale for type 1 diabetes patients and controls until the age at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. ‘p’ value refers to the statistical significance between subjects with type 1 diabetes and controls as assessed by the χ2 test
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Onkamo P, Vaananen S, Karvonen M, Tuomilehto J. Worldwide increase in incidence of Type I diabetes–the analysis of the data on published incidence trends. Diabetologia. 1999;42:1395–403. doi: 10.1007/s001250051309. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Patterson CC, Dahlquist GG, Gyürüs E, Green A, Soltész G, EURODIAB Study Group Incidence trends for childhood type 1 diabetes in Europe during 1989–2003 and predicted new cases 2005–20: a multicentre prospective registration study. Lancet. 2009;373(9680):2027–2033. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60568-7. - DOI - PubMed
    1. DiMeglio LA, Evans-Molina C, Oram RA. Type 1 diabetes. Lancet. 2018;391(10138):2449–2462. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31320-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Oram RA, Jones AG, Besser RE, Knight BA, Shields BM, Brown RJ, Hattersley AT, McDonald TJ. The majority of patients with long-duration type 1 diabetes are insulin microsecretors and have functioning beta cells. Diabetologia. 2014;57:187–91. doi: 10.1007/s00125-013-3067-x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ogle GD, James S, Dabelea D, Pihoker C, Svennson J, Maniam J, Klatman EL, Patterson CC. Global estimates of incidence of type 1 diabetes in children and adolescents: Results from the International Diabetes Federation Atlas, 10th Edition. Diabetes Res Clin. Pr. 2021;7:109083. - PubMed