Association between birth weight/joint exposure to ambient air pollutants and type 2 diabetes: a cohort study in the UK Biobank

ABSTRACT

Early life events and environmental factors are associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) development. We assessed the combined effect of birth weight andambient air pollutants, and effect of their interaction on T2D risk. Totally, 6,474 T2D incidents were recorded over an 8.7-year follow-up period. The adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were 1.31 (1.26, 1.36) for each kilogram decrease in birth weight, and 1.08 (1.05, 1.11) for each standard deviation increase in air pollution score (APS). Birth weight<3000 g amplified the T2D risk associated with high APS. A combination of the lowest birth weight (<2500 g) and the highest quintile of APS led to over two-fold increase in T2D risk (aHR: 2.17; 95% CI: 1.79–2.64). There was a significant additive interaction between them. In conclusion, ambient air pollutants increase the risk for T2D, particularly in populations with low birth weight.

KEYWORDS:

• Type 2 diabetes
• birth weight
• air pollution score
• joint effect
• UK biobank

Acknowledgements

The most important acknowledgment is to the participants in the study and the members of the survey teams.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The lead author affirms that the manuscript is an honest, accurate, and transparent account of the study being reported; that no important aspects of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the study as planned have been explained.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2023.2278634

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Beijing Natural Science Foundation (7234401), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (88014Y0226), Peking University Start-up Grant (BMU2018YJ002), and Beijing Technology and Business University Grant (88442Y0033). The funding organization had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.