Infants born weighing less than 6 pounds have an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, according to a recent study.

Researchers from Brown University also found the relative predictive value of different biomarkers, giving doctors potential new tools for understanding individual risk among low birthweight women.

"We are trying to understand what proportion of the risk attributable to low birthweight can indeed be explained by these biochemical intermediates, to understand the relative importance of each pathway," Dr. Simin Liu, senior author of the study, said in a statement.

The study drew on the detailed health records of participants in the Women's Health Initiative, a huge study supported by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. Liu's team focused on 1,259 women who developed type 2 diabetes and 1,790 otherwise similar women who did not.

Based on the study, researchers concluded that low birthweight portended a 2.15 times greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to women born between 8 and 10 pounds. Compared to women born between 6 and 8 pounds, low birthweight women had a risk that was 1.27 times greater.

The study also looked at the relative predictive value, measured in percentages, of various readily measurable biomarkers. Among them insulin resistance contributed most strongly (accounting for 47 percent), which is not surprising because insulin resistance is a core component of diabetes. High levels of E-selectin, a marker of problems with blood vessel lining, accounted for 25 percent, low levels of sex-hormone binding globulin contributed 24 percent, and high systolic blood pressure's mediation emerged at 8 percent from the statistical analysis.

Researchers hope the results will give doctors a refined understanding of relative risk among low birthweight women.

"These prospective data provide quantifiable mechanistic evidence linking low birthweight to increased risk of type 2 diabetes, while presenting risk stratification in a population at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life," they conclude.

The findings are detailed in the journal Diabetologia,