Diabetes is a chronic condition that disrupts body metabolism and is characterized by decreased insulin secretion, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemic state. It is a global burden that increases day by day, affecting millions of people worldwide. According to the latest statistics, global prevalence of diabetes was found to be 10.5% in a population of 20- to 79-year-old individuals, with 432.7 million patients with diabetes living in low- to middle-income countries. Furthermore, the prevalence is estimated to rise to 12.2%, with nearly 783.2 million patients, by the year 2045 (1). A number of factors predispose individuals to development of diabetes; some well-known contributors are obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, low HDL (or good cholesterol), and age. One element contributing to diabetes is grand multiparity, a term most commonly defined as having five or more children. Not much is known about the risk of diabetes and its connection with multiparity; however, a study reported an increased risk of diabetes among grand multiparous women (2).
In developed countries the prevalence of grand multiparity is about 3–4% of all births, which is a minor concern, whereas in developing countries the prevalence is reportedly still high (3). A number of possible causes account for this higher rate of parity, of which one sociocultural factor is son preference (4). The desire for a male child opens a door to grand multiparity in settings of low socioeconomic status. This is one of the major gender issues faced by the world today, where preferential superiority is given to the male gender, with increasing numbers of health facilities, land inheritance, and dominating power rendered to them by the unlawful working of a mindset of deep-rooted misogyny (5).
With the advancement in family planning programs and world population policies, an effort is underway to control the ever-growing population of the world, but here these patriarchal societies fail. The desire for a male child in developing parts of the world (4) not only results in multiparity but also manifests itself in the form of disrupted health conditions that are hard to govern. With the state of diabetes prevalence and its global burden (1), an indirect predisposing factor like son preference in today’s world setting is hard to turn a blind eye to. Taking note of such collateral issues by providing awareness to the general public and screening multiparous women for diabetes can help us combat the alarming situation this global epidemic can put the world in.
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Duality of Interest. No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Author Contributions. A.I. researched data. A.I. and S.I. wrote the manuscript and researched data. M.I. reviewed and edited the manuscript. A.I. is the guarantor of this work and, as such, had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
