Diabetes during pregnancy tied to increased risk neurodevelopmental disorders in children

Written By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2023-01-17T10:30:45+05:30 | Updated On 17 Jan 2023 2:02 PM IST

Taiwan: A recent study has revealed an association between maternal diabetes during pregnancy (type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes) and an increased risk of some neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in offspring. Neurodevelopmental conditions include attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, intellectual disability, developmental delay, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy.

The retrospective study included 877,233 children born between 2004 and 2008 in Taiwan whose mothers had type 1, type 2, or gestational diabetes during pregnancy. The effect of type 1 diabetes on neurodevelopmental disorders was the largest, followed by type 2 diabetes, and then gestational diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) was associated with an increased risk of developmental delay, intellectual disability, and epilepsy in children. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, developmental delay, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) was associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and developmental delay.

Key findings include:

In utero there were 0.04% children exposed to T1DM, 1.00% to T2DM, and 10.28% to GDM.
The effect of T1DM on NDDs was the largest, followed by T2DM, then GDM. T1DM was associated with an increased risk of developmental delay, intellectual disability, and epilepsy/intellectual spasms in offspring. T2DM was associated with an increased risk of ASD, ADHD, developmental delay, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy/intellectual spasms.
GDM was associated with an increased risk of ASD, ADHD, and developmental delay.

"Mechanistic studies are needed to explore how maternal conditions, such as diabetes, may shape brain development in the womb," said corresponding author Pao-Lin Kuo, MD, of National Cheng Kung University Hospital.

To sum up, maternal diabetes during pregnancy is associated with the risk of developing childhood neurodevelopmental disorders.

Reference:

Kuan-Ru Chen, Tsung Yu, Yueh-Ju Lien, Yen-Yin Chou, Pao-Lin Kuo First published: 21 December 2022 https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.15488

Developmental Medicine & Child Neurologymaternal diabetespregnancyattention-deficit/hyperactivity disorderneurodevelopmental disorderstype 2 diabetescerebral palsyepilepsy

Source : Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751