Parental type 1 diabetes can impact offsprings' cognitive development: PLOS Medicine

Denmark: Offspring of mothers with type 1 diabetes (O-mT1D) achieved lower test scores compared to offspring of parents from the background population (O-BP) but similar tests scores with offspring of fathers with type 1 diabetes (O-fT1D), a recent study has found. 

The study, published in the journal Plos Medicine, however, reduces the previous concerns with regards to adverse effects of in utero hyperglycemia on offspring cognitive function. In simpler words, regardless of which biological parent has type 1 diabetes, cognitive development in children could be affected. The research for the first time has shown that having a parent with a chronic disease like type 1 diabetes may be associated with lower school performance rather than maternal high blood sugar during fetal development.

Results on possible adverse effects on the cognitive function of O-mT1D have been conflicting. Previous studies have included offspring of parents from the background population but not offspring of fathers with type 1 diabetes as the unexposed reference group. Against the above background, Anne Lærke Spangmose, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues aimed to compare test scores in O-mT1D with test scores in O-fT1D and O-BP. The team hypothesized that O-mT1D would achieve lower test scores compared with O-fT1D and O-BP due to intrauterine exposure of hyperglycemia.