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 Researchers found Canadian women were more likely to be diagnosed
with gestational diabetes if they were exposed to higher average
outdoor temperatures during pregnancy, compared to women who were
pregnant in cooler periods.
"It’s compelling evidence that air temperature is tied with
increasing gestational risk," said lead author Dr. Gillian Booth, of
St. Michael’s Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative
Sciences in Toronto.
Booth and colleagues write in the Canadian Medical Association
Journal that research suggests exposure to the cold increases
people's sensitivity to the hormone insulin.
People with type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes don't respond
to or don't produce enough of the hormone, which helps the body
convert sugar into energy.
Nearly one in 10 mothers-to-be may develop gestational diabetes,
according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The condition increases the risk of women having gestational and
type II diabetes in the future. Also, it increases the risk of women
having larger-than-normal babies that may result in delivery
complications or C-sections.
For the new study, the researchers analyzed data from 396,828 women
and their 555,911 deliveries in the Greater Toronto Area from 2002
to 2014.
The researchers compared the risk of developing diabetes during
pregnancy among women exposed to an average outdoor temperature of
at most -10 degrees Celsius (C), or 14 degrees Fahrenheit (F),
during the 30 days before their gestational diabetes test to women
exposed to at least 24 degrees C, about 75 degrees F, before their
tests.
The prevalence of gestational diabetes among women exposed to colder
outdoor temperatures was 4.6 percent, compared to 7.7 percent among
women exposed to warmer temperatures.
Every 10 degree C increase in average outdoor temperature was tied
to a 6 percent increase in the risk of women developing gestational
diabetes, the researchers found.
When they restricted the analyses to women who had more than one
birth during the study period, the results were similar.
The increased risk may be important as global temperatures are
expected to rise 1 to 2 degrees C by 2050, Booth told Reuters
Health.
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"That may seem like a small number, but 10 to 15 million women
around the world have gestational diabetes annually and that may
potentially have a big impact," she said.
The new study can't prove that warmer temperatures cause women to
have gestational diabetes, said Dr. Kathryn Drennan, a maternal
fetal medicine physician at the University of Rochester Medical
Center in New York.
For example, there may be other seasonal factors influencing the
risk of gestational diabetes like fluctuating vitamin D levels, said
Drennan, who wasn't involved with the new study.
"I think for the average pregnant women, they shouldn’t be concerned
about this," she told Reuters Health. "I think from a systems-wide
level, it’s a bigger concern especially with the warming climate."
The study gives researchers a reason to investigate the relationship
between temperature and gestational diabetes, said Drennan.
"This is the first study I’ve seen looking at this particular aspect
of gestational diabetes," she said. "It’s a nice way to start
looking at this relationship."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2pPGTJS CMAJ, online May 15, 2017.
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