|
 The analysis followed more than 2.4 million babies born in Denmark
for up to four decades, including nearly 55,000 whose mothers had
diabetes during pregnancy. During the study period, cardiovascular
disease developed before age 40 in 1,153 people whose mothers had
diabetes while pregnant and 91,311 whose mothers did not.
When mothers had diabetes during pregnancy, their offspring were 29%
more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, researchers report in
The BMJ.
"Preventing, screening and treating diabetes in women of
childbearing age may be important not only for improving health of
the women but also for reducing long-term cardiovascular disease
risks in their offspring," said study leader Yongfu Yu of Aarhus
University in Denmark.
"We also need to monitor cardiovascular disease risks in offspring
of diabetic mothers and investigate possible life-course
interventions that may reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular
disease," Yu said by email.
A total of 26,272 infants were born to mothers who had gestational
diabetes, which develops during pregnancy and usually disappears
after the pregnancy is over.
Another 22,055 babies were exposed to their mother's type 1
diabetes, which typically develops in childhood or young adulthood
when the pancreas can't produce insulin.
And 6,537 infants were exposed to maternal type 2 diabetes, which is
linked to overweight and aging and happens when the body can't
properly use insulin to convert blood sugar into energy.
Gestational diabetes was associated with a 19% higher risk of
cardiovascular disease in early adulthood for the children, while
exposure to maternal type 1 or type 2 diabetes was tied to a 34%
greater risk of cardiovascular disease for the young adult children.
[to top of second column] |
The study wasn't designed to determine whether maternal diabetes
causes cardiovascular disease or hastens its development in
offspring.
The children exposed in utero to maternal diabetes were also more
likely to have parents with a history of cardiovascular disease, and
to have higher rates as adults of obesity, high blood pressure, high
cholesterol, chronic kidney disease - and diabetes, which is itself
a powerful risk factor for heart disease.
Yu noted that pregnant women with diabetes have more glucose, or
sugars, in the placenta, which may lead developing babies to produce
more insulin and have higher levels of blood sugar while they're in
the womb. That, in turn, could potentially lead to changes in blood
vessel function later in life that contribute to cardiovascular
disease.
"We have known for a while that children born to women with
diabetes, including both diabetes before pregnancy as well as
gestational diabetes, have a higher rate of important complications
early in life including macrosomia (babies that are too large
sometimes resulting in difficult deliveries), a higher rate of
congenital malformations, more frequent admission to NICU because of
babies having difficulties regulating their own blood sugar levels,
to name a few," said Dr. Jorge Chavarro of the Harvard T.H. Chan
School of Public Health in Boston.
These babies are known to have higher risks for being overweight or
obese in childhood, and recent work has also suggested they're at
higher risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases as adults based
on risk factors like levels of sugar and fats in the blood, said
Chavarro, who wasn't involved in the study. This new study, he said
by email, "provides evidence that maternal diabetes can also result
in a higher frequency of clinically relevant cardiovascular events
during the first four decades of life."
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2PBOV8h The BMJ, online December 4, 2019.
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
