The study carried out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found diabetic women are three to four times more likely to have a child with single birth defects, while the risk for multiple defects is eightfold.
The study involved 30,000 volunteers in nine states: Arkansas, California, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Utah. Twenty-four mothers of the nearly 5,000 infants without birth defects had diabetes before pregnancy; 283 moms of the babies with birth defects had diabetes before pregnancy, WebMD reported.
The risk was found in women with diabetes that develops in childhood and the version of the disease that generally occurs later. Also, women who got gestational diabetes tended to have children with birth defects only if their pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index (BMI) had been 25 or higher.
Defects in children born to women with diabetes included heart problems, brain and spinal defects, oral clefts, kidney and gastrointestinal tract defects, and limb deficiencies.
Researchers suggest that timely and effective management of diabetes for pregnant women is really important in helping to not only prevent birth defects, but also to reduce the risk for other health complications for them and their children.
The study was published Wednesday in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
