Monday Jan 19, 2015 (foodconsumer.org) -- D. K Tobias at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, USA and colleagues conducted a study and found female infertility associated with increased risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The researchers said in their report that both conditions have something in common such as inflammation and insulin resistance, which prompted them to conduct the study.

Participants of the Nurses' Health Study II prospective cohort who were free of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cancer at baseline were enlisted for the study. Infertility status, lifestyle, and health conditions such as occurrence of diabetes mellitus were updated biennially through questionnaires.

A total of 5,993 out of the 112,106 participants reported being diagnosed with incident type 2 diabetes mellitus while 27,774 or 24.8% women reported being infertile during a 24-year follow-up.  

Statistical analysis of the data showed that women who suffered infertility were at 20% greeter risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus than those who did not report infertility.  The association was derived after adjustment for other factors including age, lifestyle, marital status, oral contraceptive use, body mass index and family history of diabetes.

Specifically, women whose infertility was caused by ovulation disorders were 43 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus compared to women without a history of infertility.  Likewise, women whose infertility was caused by tubal factor were at 34% increased risk for diabetes mellitus.

Both cervical factor and endometriosis were not associated with risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus while male factor infertility was correlated with 15% increased risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

These findings suggest "a history of infertility particularly that related to ovulation disorders and tubal blockage is significantly associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes." (David Liu, Ph.D.)

Tobias DK, Gaskins AJ, Missmer SA, Hu FB, Manson JE, Buck Louis GM, Zhang C, Chavarro JE.  History of infertility and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a prospective cohort study.  Diabetologia. 2015 Jan 18.