Excess BMI in childhood: A modifiable risk factor for type 1 diabetes development?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the effect of elevated BMI over time on the progression to type 1 diabetes in youth. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Westudied 1,117 children in the TrialNet Pathway to Prevention cohort (autoantibodypositive relatives of patients with type 1 diabetes). Longitudinally accumulated BMI above the 85th age- and sex-adjusted percentile generated a cumulative excess BMI (ceBMI) index. Recursive partitioning and multivariate analyses yielded sexand age-specific ceBMI thresholds for greatest type 1 diabetes risk. RESULTS: Higher ceBMI conferred significantly greater risk of progressing to type 1 diabetes. The increased diabetes risk occurred at lower ceBMI values in children <12 years of age compared with older subjects and in females versus males. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated BMI is associated with increased risk of diabetes progression in pediatric autoantibody-positive relatives, but the effect varies by sex and age.