Despite increasing awareness and facilities for diabetes-management, a study reveals that diabetic mothers have a fourfold chance of infant death and almost twice the risk of serious birth defects as reported in BMJ Online First.
Dr. Mary Macintosh, medical director for Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health, London, along with her team, studied reports of babies born to diabetic mothers from 231 maternity units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The study spanned over a year and included a total of 2,359 pregnancies, where 1,707 of the women suffered from Type 1 diabetes while the remaining 652 had Type 2 diabetes.
On analyzing the results, the team calculated that all the diabetic women were four times as likely to deliver children whose mortality was very high compared to women who did not have diabetes. Within the two groups however, there wasn't much variation, the rate being 31.7 per 1,000 births among those who had Type 1 diabetes and 32.3 per 1,000 births among those who had Type 2 diabetes. The rates of heart and nervous system defects were found to be greater than double when compared to non-diabetic mothers. 4.8% of children born from mothers with Type 1 diabetes and 4.2% of children born from mothers with Type 2 diabetes suffered these disorders.
These results are particularly startling considering that the number of women diagnosed with both types of diabetes is on the rise. Researchers therefore have included several recommendations for diabetic women who are or who are planning to become pregnant. They emphasize that these women must take larger than normal doses of folic acid – a B vitamin that helps develop the brain, neural tube and the spinal cord. They also suggest a specialized foetal heart scan to determine early, the risks of any abnormalities.
Maggie Blott of King's College Hospital, London advocates pre-pregnancy counseling sessions for women who are wanting to conceive a child. These would help to not only inform the women of the risks involved, but could also offer them valuable information regarding precautions and measures to have a healthy baby.
