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No association between routinely recorded infections in early life and subsequent risk of childhood-onset Type 1

C R Cardwell1, D J Carson, C C Patterson

  • 1School of Medicine and Dentistry, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, UK.

Diabetic Medicine : a Journal of the British Diabetic Association
|January 19, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Early life infections did not reduce the risk of Type 1 diabetes in children, challenging the hygiene hypothesis. This study found no association between childhood infections and subsequent diabetes development.

Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Epidemiology
  • Pediatrics

Background:

  • The hygiene hypothesis suggests reduced early-life infections may increase autoimmune disease risk.
  • Type 1 diabetes is a significant autoimmune condition in childhood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between infections in early life and the subsequent risk of developing Type 1 diabetes.
  • To evaluate if findings support or refute the hygiene hypothesis in the context of Type 1 diabetes.

Main Methods:

  • A UK-based cohort study utilized the General Practice Research Database.
  • Matched case-control analysis included 367 children with Type 1 diabetes and 4579 controls.
  • Infections and antibiotic prescriptions in the first year of life were assessed using general practitioner records.

Main Results:

  • No reduced risk of Type 1 diabetes was observed in children with infections in their first year of life (OR = 1.03).
  • Antibiotic prescriptions in the first year of life also showed no association with reduced Type 1 diabetes risk (OR = 1.03).
  • Analyses of various infection types and infections within the first two years yielded similar null findings.

Conclusions:

  • This study found no evidence linking early-life infections to a subsequent risk of childhood-onset Type 1 diabetes.
  • The findings do not support the hygiene hypothesis regarding the development of Type 1 diabetes.
Abstract

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