Children exposed to maternal diabetes had an increased risk of any neurodevelopmental disorder including autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, intellectual disability, among others
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A large study of 56·1 million pregnancies, published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology on Tuesday, has reinforced the link between maternal diabetes and the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Researchers from the Central South University in China conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 202 studies, involving 56,082,462 mother-child pairs.
The results showed that maternal diabetes was associated with increased risks of all types of neurodevelopmental disorders as well as lower intelligence and psychomotor scores.
Children exposed to maternal diabetes had an increased risk of any neurodevelopmental disorder including autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, intellectual disability, specific developmental disorders, communication disorder, motor disorder, and learning disorder, compared with unexposed children.
"Maternal diabetes is associated with an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders and impaired neurodevelopmental performance in children,” said the researchers.
Maternal diabetes which includes both pre-gestational diabetes (also known as preexisting diabetes) and gestational diabetes -- high blood sugar during pregnancy -- has become increasingly prevalent, affecting millions of pregnancies worldwide.
The global prevalences of pre-gestational diabetes and gestational diabetes have also steadily increased over the past four decades, with pre-gestational diabetes affecting about 2·4 per cent and gestational diabetes affecting 27·6 per cent of pregnancies worldwide.
Obesity and metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of conditions, including hypertension, diabetes, excess abdominal fat, and abnormal cholesterol levels -- are known to be the major drivers.
Besides negative impacts such as caesarean section, macrosomia (excessive birth weight), and neonatal jaundice, affecting both mothers and neonates, previous studies have shown maternal diabetes might alter foetal brain development.
Notably, pre-gestational diabetes was more strongly associated with the risk of most neurodevelopmental disorders in children than gestational diabetes.
The findings also emphasise “the importance of proactive interventions for women at risk of developing diabetes and continuous monitoring of children with a history of in-utero exposure to maternal diabetes", the researchers added.
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