| Abstract: | Background Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is reported to be associated with maternal but not paternal diabetes. This study examined the relative contribution of maternal and paternal diabetes among type 2 diabetic women with and without a GDM history. Materials and methods A total of 48 502 type 2 diabetic women from a national sample were interviewed by telephone. Among them, 510 reported a GDM history. Parental diabetes was compared between patients with and without a GDM history considering the confounding effects of age, body mass index, smoking, hypertension, duration of diabetes and insulin use. Results Patients with a GDM history were younger in age, had younger age of onset, longer duration of diabetes, slightly lower body mass index, higher prevalence of insulin use and lower prevalence of hypertension, but smoking rates were similar. The percentages of parental diabetes of nil, mother only, father only and both father and mother for those without a GDM history were 76.2, 15.2, 5.8 and 2.8%, respectively; and were 47.8, 26.8, 17.5 and 7.9%, respectively, for those with a GDM history (P < 0.001). The adjusted odds ratios for patients with versus without a GDM history for parental diabetes of nil, mother only, father only, and both father and mother were 1.000, 1.210 (0.948-1.544), 1.783 (1.341-2.371) and 2.094 (1.440-3.045), respectively. Conclusions Although maternal diabetes is more commonly seen, the disproportionately higher paternal diabetes in patients with a GDM history suggests an important role for paternal diabetes on the development of GDM into type 2 diabetes mellitus. |
