Caesarean section increases diabetes-type-I risk

Caesarean birth increases the diabetes type 1 risk for the child

17.02.2012

Infants born by caesarean section are twice as likely to develop type 1 diabetes as babies born spontaneously. This was discovered by scientists of the Technical University of Munich of the Research Unit Diabetes. However, the increased factor was only measured in those whose parents themselves suffer from type 1 diabetes.

More and more mothers are opting for a cesarean section
According to current evaluations of the DAK, every third child in Germany is now delivered by caesarean section. In a caesarean section, the child is surgically retrieved from the mother's uterus by doctors. Only a few decades ago, the cesarean section was only performed when urgent medical reasons gave cause for it. However, more and more families are demanding an artificial delivery, for example, to be able to determine their own birthday or to avoid the pain of a natural birthing process. Unknown to many other health risks to both mother and child, the type 1 diabetes risk is doubled when a Caesarean section is performed.

Double increased risk of type I diabetes
According to a scientific study, children who are delivered by cesarean section have a doubly increased risk of developing the type I metabolic disease later than children born spontaneously. During a long-term study, experts from the Diabetes Research Group of the Technical University of Munich had determined the influence of external environmental factors on children from so-called risk families. The results of approximately 1650 children were included in the study data. The participating subjects were observed from the beginning of the birth for an average of eleven years.

In contrast to type II diabetes, type I is innate. In this disease, antibodies attack the islet cells of the pancreas. The cells that produce insulin are continuously destroyed in this attack of the immune system. Although cesarean birth does not trigger the disease, certain factors favor the onset of diabetes. Finally, according to observations of the researchers in a childbirth birth, the consistency of the infantile intestinal flora is significantly changed. Thus, an autoimmune reaction of the body is favored. A far higher risk factor is the genetic requirements.

The evaluation showed that children whose mother or father are suffering from type 1 diabetes and were born by Caesarean section, develop a disease risk of 4.8 percent until the age of twelve. On the other hand, children who are born spontaneously and whose parents are also ill have a much lower risk of 2.2 percent. The increased risk factor due to C-section birth was independent of other factors such as prematurity, firstborn or multiple pregnancy. The season or health-damaging Competents such as smoking in the course of pregnancy also showed no meaningful relevance. „One explanatory approach for these study results is the fact that delivery by caesarean section affects the quality of the infant intestinal flora and thus the immune system“, explained the researcher Anette-Gabriele Ziegler.

Harmful influence on the intestinal flora
The influence on the intestinal flora was striking. Children who were born by cesarean section show less of the important intestinal bacteria such as bifidobacteria. The microorganisms, for example, keep harmful bacteria and pathogens in check and thus help the immune system. In adults, the proportion of bifidobacteria in the entire intestinal flora is around 25 percent. In infants, this would even be around 95 percent. „The intestinal flora of the cesarean section children resembles the disturbed intestinal flora of diabetics“, says Ziegler. The study data were in the medical journal „diabetes“ released. The journal is the specialist issue of the American Diabetes Association. (Sb)

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