This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Related letters  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Nutritional and Metabolic Disorders  • Nutritional and Metabolic Disorders, Other  • Pediatrics  • Neonatology and Infant Care  • Statistics and Research Methods  • Endocrine Diseases  • Diabetes Mellitus  • Genetics  • Genetic Disorders  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: In their systematic review, Dr Whincup and colleagues¹ confirmed the finding in our meta-analysis² that low birth weight is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes. A main difference between these studies, however, relates to the shape of the birth weight–diabetes association. While we found evidence for a U-shaped curve, with both low and high birth weights related to increased risk, Whincup et al concluded that the relation is linear inverse. We question whether their conclusion is appropriate based on methodology and biological plausibility.

We are concerned about their approach of pooling linear regression coefficients without considering whether the assumption of linearity was supported by the evaluated data. This leads to contradictions within their article. For example, linear regression coefficients were calculated and used for the pooled estimate from the studies by Rich-Edwards et al³ and McCance et al,⁴ which together contributed more than one-third (2333) . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Andreas Plagemann, MD
andreas.plagemann@charite.de

Thomas Harder, MD, MSc
Department of Obstetrics
Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Berlin, Germany

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLE

Birth Weight and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review
Peter H. Whincup, Samantha J. Kaye, Christopher G. Owen, Rachel Huxley, Derek G. Cook, Sonoko Anazawa, Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, Santosh K. Bhargava, Bryndís E. Birgisdottir, Sofia Carlsson, Susanne R. de Rooij, Roland F. Dyck, Johan G. Eriksson, Bonita Falkner, Caroline Fall, Tom Forsén, Valdemar Grill, Vilmundur Gudnason, Sonia Hulman, Elina Hyppönen, Mona Jeffreys, Debbie A. Lawlor, David A. Leon, Junichi Minami, Gita Mishra, Clive Osmond, Chris Power, Janet W. Rich-Edwards, Tessa J. Roseboom, Harshpal Singh Sachdev, Holly Syddall, Inga Thorsdottir, Mauno Vanhala, Michael Wadsworth, and Donald E. Yarbrough
JAMA. 2008;300(24):2886-2897.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

RELATED LETTERS

Birth Weight and Type 2 Diabetes in Adults
Mario J. A. Saad, José B. C. Carvalheira, and Lício A. Velloso
JAMA. 2009;301(15):1539.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Birth Weight and Type 2 Diabetes in Adults—Reply
Peter H. Whincup, Christopher G. Owen, and Derek G. Cook
JAMA. 2009;301(15):1540-1541.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT