People whose mothers had diabetes during pregnancy may be at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease by early adulthood, a recent study suggests.
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 29per cent 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 19per cent 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 34per cent greater risk of cardiovascular disease for the young adult children.
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.