Associations between parental type 2 diabetes risk and offspring birthweight and placental weight: a survival analysis using the Walker cohort.

We identified associations between offspring BW and reduced paternal type 2 diabetes risk, most likely resulting from the independent effects of common type 2 diabetes susceptibility alleles on fetal growth, as described by the fetal insulin hypothesis. Moreover, we identified novel associations between offspring PW and reduced paternal type 2 diabetes risk, a relationship that might also be caused by the inheritance of diabetes predisposition variants. We found differing associations between offspring BW and PW and parental risk of death. These results provide novel epidemiological support for the use of offspring BW and PW as predictors for future risk of type 2 diabetes and death in mothers and fathers.