Women with high blood sugar levels during pregnancy are more likely to have children who develop diabetes later in life, a new study has warned.
Babies born to women with gestational diabetes are already at an increased risk of birth defects, large birth weight, preterm birth, and respiratory distress syndrome – and mothers face risks of miscarriage and life-threatening hypertension during childbirth.
But new research reveals another concern: babies born to mothers with even moderately elevated blood glucose levels were twice as likely to grow up obese, and thereby develop type 2 diabetes.
The team, from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, says it hopes its findings lead to physicians being more meticulous in screening pregnant women for high blood sugar levels.
Women with high blood sugar levels during pregnancy could be raising the risk of diabetes for both themselves and their children, a new study has warned (file image of pregnant woman checking blood sugar levels)
The results are part of a follow-up study titled the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes-Follow-up Study, or HAPO-FUS, which followed mothers and their children for 10 to 14 years after birth.
The first HAPO study looked at more than 23,000 mother-child pairs and found that a mother’s blood sugar levels – even short of diabetes – could affect her newborn’s birth weight and body fat.
Following the results, an international panel of experts were led to recommend new diagnostic criteria for gestational diabetes – high blood sugar levels during pregnancy – in 2010.
Doctors are unsure of how some women develop gestational diabetes but some risk factors include being above age 25, excess weight and a family history.
These mothers are at a greater risk of potentially developing pre-eclampsia, a significant increase in blood pressure that can lead to serious complications and even death.
Babies born to women with this condition are at an increased risk of a large birth weight, preterm birth, respiratory distress syndrome – a condition in which breathing is difficult, low blood sugar and even birth defects.
Prior to the new guidelines, between three and four percent of pregnant women were diagnosed with the condition, according to Fit Pregnancy.
Under the new criteria, that rate doubled to between six and eight percent of soon-to-be mothers.
HAPO-FUS wanted to compare the long-term effects of high blood glucose levels in mothers who fell under the new definition compared to those who did not.
For the new study, researchers examined almost 4,700 mothers for type 2 diabetes, prediabetes and other glucose metabolism disorders.
The team found that even a modest increase in blood glucose levels led to harmful effects for both mother and child.
For those who had elevated blood glucose during their pregnancy, close to 11 percent had type 2 diabetes during the follow-up and around 42 percent had prediabetes.
Among women who did not have these elevated levels while pregnant, around two percent had type 2 diabetes and close to 18 percent had prediabetes.
Next, the researchers looked at more than 4,800 children to determine whether they were overweight or obese.
They used calculations of body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage, skin fold thickness and waist circumference.
Findings showed that children born to mothers with high blood glucose levels were significantly more likely to be obese.
In one example, when using the BMI calculation, 19 percent of children born to mothers with elevated blood glucose were obese in comparison with 10 percent of children born to mothers with normal levels.
‘The differences in mothers and their children due to the mother’s higher blood glucose are very concerning,’ said co-author Dr Barbara Linder, a senior advisor for the Childhood Diabetes Research program at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease.
‘Even accounting for the mother’s weight, glucose had an independent effect.’
Study chair Professor Boyd Metzger, of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, said the follow-up is a good first step but more research is needed.
‘HAPO helped redefine gestational diabetes, and now its follow up continues to raise important alarms about the long-term danger of high blood glucose levels during pregnancy,’ he said.
‘This study shows both mothers with elevated blood glucose levels and their offspring are at higher risk for adverse health effects later in life.
‘More research is needed to find interventions to help both these women and their children.’