Marital status and family size of type 1 diabetic patients in a French cohort.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the marital status, the number of offspring and the cumulative incidence of type 1 diabetes in offspring of type 1 diabetic men and women.


METHODS
From the database of patients attending our department, we reviewed the files of all the 352 subjects aged >=40 years with type 1 diabetes and compared male and female patients for whom age, age at diagnosis of diabetes, marital status, socio-economic status, number and age of offspring, diagnosed type 1 diabetes in the offspring could be obtained from patient's record and/or direct interview (86 males and 78 females).


RESULTS
In this population, 73% of women and 81% of men were married or living a marital life (NS), and 35% of women versus 8% of men had no offspring (P<0.0001). The proportion of parents with 2 offspring or more was 43% in females and 61% in males (p=0.03) and was not related to the socio-economic status. The number of offspring with diagnosed type 1 diabetes was small (8/229) and did not show significant association with gender of the parent, with a cumulative incidence of 3.2 and 3.7% in offspring of type 1 diabetic mothers and fathers respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Type 1 diabetic women born before 1960 had fewer children than men. In this cohort, there was no difference in the cumulative incidence of type 1 diabetes in offspring of type 1 diabetic men and women despite reduced family size in women.
Sobngwi
E
E
Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Clinical Investigation Center (INSERM CIC9502), Saint-Louis University Hospital, Paris, France.
Leblanc
H
H
Vexiau
P
P
Gautier
J F
JF
D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008393:Marriage; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D009679:Nuclear Family; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors