title: Does parity worsen diabetes-related chronic complications in women with type 1 diabetes?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the relationship between parity, glycemic control, cardiovascular risk factors and diabetes-related chronic complications in women with type 1 diabetes.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a multicenter cross-sectional study conducted between December 2008 and December 2010 in 28 public clinics in 20 cities from the 4 Brazilian geographic regions. Data were obtained from 1532 female patients, 59.2% Caucasians, and aged 25.2 ± 10.6 years. Diabetes duration was of 11.5 ± 8.2 years. Patient's information was obtained through a questionnaire and a chart review. Parity was stratified in five groups: Group 0 (nulliparous), group 1 (1 pregnancy), group 2 (2 pregnancies), group 3 (3 pregnancies), group 4 (≥ 4 pregnancies). Test for trend and multivariate random intercept logistic and linear regression models were used to evaluate the effect of parity upon glycemic control, cardiovascular risk factors and diabetes-related complications.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parity was not related with glycemic control and nephropathy. Moreover, the effect of parity upon hypertension, retinopathy and macrovascular disease did not persist after adjustments for demographic and clinical variables in multivariate analysis. For retinopathy, the duration of diabetes and hypertension were the most important independent variables and for macrovascular disease, these variables were age and hypertension. Overweight or obesity was noted in a total of 538 patients (35.1%). A linear association was found between the frequency of overweight or obesity and parity (P = 0.004). Using a random intercept multivariate linear regression model with body mass index (BMI) as dependent variable a borderline effect for parity (P = 0.06) was noted after adjustment for clinical and demographic data. The observed variability of BMI was not attributable to differences between centers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that parity has a borderline effect on body mass index but does not have an important effect upon hypertension and micro or macrovascular chronic complications. Future prospective evaluations must be conducted to clarify the relationship between parity, appearance or worsening of diabetes-related chronic complications.
authors.affiliation: Marilia Brito Gomes, Ana Almeida, Department of Internal Medicine, Diabetes Unit, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 20550-900, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marilia Brito
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.affiliation: Marilia Brito Gomes, Ana Almeida, Department of Internal Medicine, Diabetes Unit, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 20550-900, Brazil.
authors.forename: Carlos Antonio
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Negrato
authors.affiliation: Marilia Brito Gomes, Ana Almeida, Department of Internal Medicine, Diabetes Unit, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 20550-900, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.affiliation: Marilia Brito Gomes, Ana Almeida, Department of Internal Medicine, Diabetes Unit, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 20550-900, Brazil.
authors.forename: Antonio Ponce
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: de Leon
keywords: Cardiovascular risk factors; Diabetes-related chronic complications; Glycemic control; Parity; Type 1 diabetes