Children of mothers who had gestational diabetes during pregnancy could be at increased risk of type 1 diabetes themselves, according to a new study led by a team at the Research Institute of the 平特五不中 Health Centre (RI-MUHC) that was published in the
Early detection of diabetes is important in children and youth, as many 鈥斕齛bout 25 percent 鈥斕齛re diagnosed when seeking care for diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially life-threatening complication of diabetes that can occur when the body starts running out of insulin.
鈥淎lthough type听1 and type听2 diabetes in parents are well-established risk factors for their offspring to become diabetic, we show in this study that gestational diabetes may also be a risk indicator for type 1 diabetes in the mother鈥檚 children. We found that a child or teen whose mother had gestational diabetes was nearly twice as likely to develop type 1 diabetes before the age of 22,鈥欌�� says senior study author Dr.听Kaberi Dasgupta, director and senior scientist of the Centre for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) at the RI-MUHC and an associate professor of medicine at 平特五不中.
The study of 73,180听mothers compared data from Quebec (1990-2012) on randomly selected single births from mothers with gestational diabetes to births from mothers without gestational diabetes. The incidence 鈥斕齮he number of new cases 鈥斕齩f diabetes per 10,000听person-years was 4.5听in children born to mothers with gestational diabetes and 2.4听in mothers without.
鈥淥nly a small number of children will develop diabetes before the age of 22, even if their mothers had gestational diabetes,鈥欌�� says study co-author, Dr. Meranda Naklha, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Montreal Children鈥檚 Hospital of the MUHC and an assistant professor of pediatrics at 平特五不中. 鈥淗owever, parents and healthcare providers should consider the possibility of diabetes if children听start showing signs听such has frequent urination, excessive thirst, or weight loss, particularly if their moms had gestational diabetes.鈥欌��
According to the authors, the reasons for this relationship need to be examined in future studies but the evidence of the link may help to accelerate the diagnosis of diabetes in young people.
鈥淭his study is important, as we try to understand听risk factors for type 1 diabetes,鈥� says Dr. Jan Hux, President and CEO of Diabetes Canada, which funded the research. 鈥淭his research may result in a greater propensity for healthcare providers to promptly test children who present with typical diabetes symptoms and who are born to mothers with gestational diabetes, thereby reducing the likelihood of severe incidents like diabetic ketoacidosis. We look forward to improving the lives and outcomes of children through greater research in this area.鈥�
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Type 1 diabetes generally develops in childhood or adolescence, but can also develop in adulthood. People with type 1 diabetes aren鈥檛 able to produce their own insulin (and can鈥檛 regulate their blood sugar) because their body鈥檚 immune system is attacking the pancreas. Roughly 10 percent of people living with diabetes have type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is most commonly developed in adulthood, although it can also occur in childhood. People with type 2 diabetes can鈥檛 properly use the insulin made by their bodies, or their bodies aren鈥檛 able to produce enough insulin. Roughly 90 percent of people living with diabetes have type 2 diabetes.
About the study:
Andrea L. Blotsky MD MSc, Elham Rahme PhD, Mourad Dahhou MSc, Meranda Nakhla MD MSc, Kaberi Dasgupta MD MSc doi: 10.1503/cmaj.181001
This study was supported by an operating grant from Diabetes Canada (principal investigator Kaberi Dasgupta; co-principal investigator Elham Rahme).
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