�Babies delivered by Caesarean section hold a 20 per penny higher peril than normal deliveries of developing the most usual type of diabetes in childhood, according to a study lED by Queen's University Belfast.
The team, lED by Dr Chris Cardwell and Dr Chris Patterson, examined 20 published studies from 16 countries including around 10,000 children with Type 1 diabetes and over a trillion control children.
They constitute a 20 per cent increase in the risk of children born by Caesarean section developing the disease. The increase could not be explained by factors such as birth weight, the age of the female parent, order of birth, gestational diabetes and whether the baby was breast-fed or not, all factors associated with childhood diabetes in previous studies.
Dr Cardwell, from the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, said: "This study revealed a consistent 20 per cent step-up in the risk of Type 1 diabetes. It is important to stress that the reason for this is still not understood. It is possible that children born by Caesarean section differ from other children with respect to some unknown feature which accordingly increases their risk of diabetes, merely it is also possible that Caesarean section itself is responsible.
"Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system destroys the insulin producing cells in the pancreas, and ane theory suggests that being born by Caesarean section may strike the development of the immune system because babies are first exposed to bacteria originating from the hospital surroundings rather than to maternal bacteria."
Dr Chris Patterson said: "The study findings are interesting, only unless a biological mechanism is established it would be inexpedient to read too much into this association 'tween Caesarean section delivery and diabetes.
"Fortunately figures from the Northern Ireland Type 1 diabetes register designate that only around iI per 1,000 children will grow diabetes by their 15th birthday so a 20 per cent increase is on quite a low baseline risk."
Diabetes is a serious condition that, if not managed, can hint to fatal complications including heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and amputations. There are 2.3 million people in the UK diagnosed with diabetes and 250,000 with Type 1 diabetes. In Northern Ireland over 62,000 people have diabetes, 6,000 of them with Type 1 diabetes.
Around one in four babies in Northern Ireland are delivered by Caesarean section, which is significantly higher that the World Health Organisation's recommended pace of 15 per cent.
Iain Foster, Director of Diabetes UK Northern Ireland, aforesaid: "Not all women have the option of whether to have a Caesarean section or not, merely those wHO do may wish to take this risk into consideration earlier choosing to give birth this agency.
"We already know that genetics and childhood infections play a vital role in the development of Type 1 diabetes in children, but the findings of this study indicate that the way a baby is delivered could affect how likely it is to develop this condition later in living. Diabetes UK Northern Ireland would welcome more research in this area."
Queen's University Belfast
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