Diabetes-Associated HLA-DQ Genes and Birth Weight

Diabetes-Associated HLA-DQ Genes and Birth Weight Lars C. Stene 1 2 , Per Magnus 1 , Kjersti S. Rønningen 1 and Geir Joner 2 1 Section of Epidemiology, Department of Population Health Sciences, National Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway 2 Diabetes Research Center, Aker and Ullevål University Hospitals, Oslo, Norway Abstract An association has recently been described between increased birth weight and increased risk of childhood-onset type 1 diabetes. Whether this relationship is explained by genes associated with both increased birth weight and increased risk of type 1 diabetes is unknown. In the present study, we tested the association between birth weight and HLA-DQ genotypes known to confer risk for type 1 diabetes among 969 nondiabetic children randomly selected from the Norwegian population. We found that HLA genotypes previously shown to confer risk for type 1 diabetes were associated with reduced birth weight (the mean difference in birth weight between the DQB1*0602/DQB1*0602 and DQ8/DQ2 genotypes was 354 g [95% CI 105–604]), which was opposite of that expected if HLA genes explained the birth weight–type 1 diabetes association. Footnotes Address correspondence and reprint requests to Lars C. Stene, Section of Epidemiology, National Institute of Public Health, P.O. Box 4404 Nydalen, N-0403 Oslo, Norway. E-mail: lars.christian.stene{at}folkehelsa.no . Received for publication 26 June 2001 and accepted in revised form 20 September 2001.