Aims: Whether women with a history of miscarriage or stillbirth have an increased risk of diabetes is inconclusive. We aimed to systematically assess the association between them.
Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus through November 2022. Random-effect model for meta-analysis was applied to calculate pooled odds ratios and corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) when heterogeneity was > 40 %.
Results: Thirteen cohort studies and eight case-control studies with a total of 529,990 participants were included. Women ever experiencing a miscarriage had a 1.15-fold risk of non-gestational diabetes (95% CI: 1.02-1.28) and a 1.62-fold risk of gestational diabetes (95% CI: 1.32-1.98) compared to those never experiencing a miscarriage. Of them, women with three or more miscarriages had a 1.99-fold risk of non-gestational diabetes (95% CI: 1.36-2.91). The risk of non-gestational diabetes among women ever experiencing a stillbirth was 1.21 times compared with those never experiencing a stillbirth (95% CI: 1.03-1.41). Pooled results did not support a stable association between stillbirth and gestational diabetes risk (odds ratio:1.91, 95% CI: 1.00-3.64).
Conclusions: A history of miscarriage or stillbirth was associated with an increased risk of diabetes in women. Future studies are needed to explore whether prediabetic metabolic conditions contribute to this association.
Keywords: Diabetes; Meta-analysis; Miscarriage; Stillbirth.
Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.