Diabetes in pregnant women may increase the risk of autism in children - study

Thanks to a new large study, scientists have gained more evidence that diabetes during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of brain and nervous system problems in children, including autism.

This is reported by Reuters.

Details

Whether diabetes actually causes these problems remains unclear. But when mothers have diabetes during pregnancy, children are 28% more likely to be diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders, according to an analysis of data collected from 202 previous studies involving more than 56 million mother-child pairs.

The risks for children of mothers with diabetes during pregnancy were 25% higher for autism, 30% higher for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and 32% higher for intellectual disability. They were also 20% more likely to have communication problems, 17% movement problems, and 16% learning disabilities than children whose mothers did not have diabetes during pregnancy.

Diabetes diagnosed before pregnancy was found to be a 39% higher risk of developing one or more of these neurodevelopmental disorders compared with gestational diabetes, which begins during pregnancy and often goes away after it, researchers report in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes affects up to 9% of pregnant women in the United States. As of today, this figure continues to grow. 

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Seven previous studies compared sick children and their siblings. These analyses found no effect of maternal diabetes, suggesting that shared genetic or family factors may contribute to the increased risk, the authors note.

The findings underscore the importance of medical support for women at risk of developing diabetes and continuous monitoring of their children, the researchers note.

The association of maternal diabetes with autism in children is well known, said Dr. Magdalena Janecka of the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University, who studies the relationship between intrauterine exposure and child development but was not involved in the new study.

A large "meta-analysis" like this one allows us to analyze subgroups, such as mothers with pre-existing diabetes versus gestational diabetes, or children with autism versus children with ADHD or motor disorders, but it cannot prove causality.

Meta-analysis allows us to compare groups more accurately. At the same time, they do not bring us closer to understanding the causes or mechanisms underlying them

The study appeared as Trump administration officials called for further research into whether vaccines are a cause of autism. This claim has long been championed by new Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. However, it has been refuted by authoritative science.

Addition

U.S. budget cuts for aid threaten to undermine years of progress in reducing the number of women who die during pregnancy and childbirth, the United Nations warns.