Premature babies may be more likely to develop diabetes as children and young adults than full-term infants, a new study suggests.

Compared with children under 18 years old who were born full-term, those born before 37 weeks’ gestation were 21% more likely to develop type 1 diabetes, and 26% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes in childhood.

As adults, premature babies were 24% more likely to develop type 1 diabetes and 49% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes by the time they were 43 years old.

Some previous research suggests that preterm infants have an increased risk of developing insulin resistance.