Maternal Early-Life Risk Factors and Later Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the UAE Healthy Future Study (UAEHFS)

Abstract

Limited studies have focused on maternal early-life risk factors and the later development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We aimed to estimate the GDM prevalence and examine the associations of maternal early-life risk factors, namely: maternal birthweight, parental smoking at birth, childhood urbanicity, ever-breastfed, parental education attainment, parental history of diabetes, childhood overall health, childhood body size, and childhood height, with later GDM. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study using the UAE Healthy Future Study (UAEHFS) baseline data (February 2016 to April 2022) on 702 ever-married women aged 18 to 67 years. We fitted a Poisson regression to estimate the risk ratio (RR) for later GDM and its 95% confidence interval (CI). The GDM prevalence was 5.1%. In the fully adjusted model, females with low birthweight were four times more likely (RR 4.04, 95% CI 1.36–12.0) and females with a parental history of diabetes were nearly three times more likely (RR 2.86, 95% CI 1.10–7.43) to report later GDM. In conclusion, maternal birthweight and parental history of diabetes were significantly associated with later GDM. Close glucose monitoring during pregnancy among females with either a low birth weight and/or parental history of diabetes might help to prevent GDM among this high-risk group.

Epidemiology, Technology, and Professional Perspectives on Diabetes in the United Arab Emirate: A Focused Review

“…21,22 However, more recent studies are larger and include the epidemiology of diabetes in pregnancy in the UAE, the applicability of several diagnostic guidelines, and the impact of lifestyle management. [23][24][25][26][27][28][29] The Mutaba'ah study is the largest multicenter mother and child cohort study in the UAE with an 18-year follow-up. Discrepancies among the diagnostic criteria in identifying gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) cases were evident emphasizing the need to unify diagnostic criteria to provide accurate and reliable incidence estimates for health care planning, particularly as the agreement with the recommended criteria was not optimal.…”

“…25 The maternal early-life risk factors and later gestational diabetes mellitus were the subjects of the cross-sectional analysis of the UAE Healthy Future Study. 26 Three more focused studies on Ramadan fasting, the use of technology by pregnant women, and the outcome of twin pregnancies were also published in the UAE. Hassanein et al 27 explored the safety of fasting in GDM in Ramadan while understating the glycemic variability.…”