- A new analysis shows a strong correlation between tobacco exposure early in life and the development of type 2 diabetes later in life.
- Researchers report that people with preexisting genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes face an even higher risk if they smoke.
- They say that adopting a healthy lifestyle later in life helped lower the risk.
New research shows that early exposure to tobacco – whether in the womb or during childhood and adolescence – has a strong correlation with the development of type 2 diabetes later in life.
The large-scale observational analysis pulled records of about 476,000 adults in the UK Biobank.
The findings, which have not been published yet in a peer-reviewed journal, were presented this week at the annual American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention/Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Scientific Sessions in Chicago.
While the data only shows correlation and not causation, it adds to the body of evidence that correlates tobacco exposure with poor health – particularly for those who are exposed early in life.
“This emphasizes the importance of preventing tobacco exposures in early life stages including during pregnancy, especially for people with high genetic risk for type 2 diabetes,” Victor Wenze Zhong, a senior study author and a professor and chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in China, told Medical News Today.
“Adopting a healthy lifestyle later in adulthood could lower the risk of type 2 diabetes among people who have had tobacco exposure in utero, childhood, or adolescence,” he added.
It’s already been established that smoking and tobacco exposure are associated with a host of
The study authors reported that people who started smoking in childhood had double the risk of type 2 diabetes. In addition, those who started smoking as adolescents had a 57% higher risk…
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