A baby born to a mum with pre-existing conditions can be at risk of several health problems. Learn more about gestational diabetes and its possible effects on your unborn baby.
In this article, you’ll read:
- STUDY: Vision problems more common in offspring born to mums with gestational diabetes
- Are you at risk for gestational diabetes?
As parents, we want to ensure that we only pass on our best qualities to our children. This is also true healthwise. For this reason, most mums get the best prenatal care to make sure that their unborn child is protected from any congenital disease or complication they may inherit.
One of the common pregnancy conditions mums are wary of is maternal diabetes mellitus or also known as gestational diabetes. Aside from putting the mother at risk for a lot of complications during pregnancy, gestational diabetes also has long-term effects on the baby.
Now a recent study has proved that babies born to diabetic mums specifically have a higher risk of developing vision problems.
They develop refractive errors that are common vision problems and occur when the eye has difficulty focusing on images. It is mainly due to an error in how the cornea is shaped, resulting in blurry vision.
Vision problems more common in babies born to mums with Maternal Diabetes
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A team of researchers from the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at Aarhus University in Denmark tried to find whether maternal diabetes mellitus contributes to the risk of refractive visual errors in offspring.
The researchers took into account over 2,470,580 people who were born between 1977 to 2016.
The study was conducted over 25 years and researchers checked with the offspring to find out the existence of a refractive error, if any.
Vision problems noted as effects of Gestational Diabetes on baby
The researchers noted whether the participants’ mums had diabetes before or during their pregnancy.
- A total of 19,965 kids born to mothers without diabetes were diagnosed with a refractive error compared to 533 infants born to mums with the condition.
- But they further said that having a mum with diabetes increased the risk of refractive vision problems by 39 per cent.
In case the mum suffered from a diabetic complication, the risk increased for the offspring.
The types of refractive errors, which babies born to maternal diabetic mums include:
- Myopia: It is a condition in which you can see objects near you clearly, but far away objects look blurry.
- Hyperopia: In this condition, one can see distant objects extremely clearly, but the nearby ones may be blurry.
- Astigmatism: It is usually a treatable imperfection in the curvature of the eye which causes blurry vision at near and far distances.
As far as maternal diabetes mellitus that leads to these issues is concerned, there are two types to watch out.
The Two Types of Maternal Diabetes
Image courtesy: iStock
Both of them can increase the risk of maternal and fetal complications.
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Gestational diabetes. It is a condition that develops during pregnancy and might go away easily post-delivery. Here, your blood sugar levels increase due to multiple factors including diet, lack of exercise, and even hormones.
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Pregestational diabetes: In this condition, women have diabetes before getting pregnant. Here are the two possibilities-type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
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Women with type 1 diabetes, are unable to process glucose due to the lack of insulin.
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On the other hand, those with type 2 diabetes can’t use the insulin they make. So they will need blood sugar-lowering medicine and possibly insulin.
When Can You Be At Risk Of Maternal Diabetes Mellitus?
Although any woman can develop Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) during pregnancy, some of the factors that can increase the risk are:
- Excessive weight
- Having given birth previously to a baby that weighed more than 4 kilos or 9 pounds
- A family history of diabetes
- Those who are above 25 years of age. This group is at a greater risk for developing gestational diabetes than younger women.
Diagnosis Of Maternal Diabetes Mellitus
Health bodies recommend screening for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes at the first prenatal visit in women with high diabetes risks.
In pregnant women, even those who don’t have a risk of diabetes, GDM testing is recommended to be performed at 24 to 28 weeks of gestation.
Those women with diagnosed GDM should be screened for persistent diabetes 6 to 12 weeks postpartum as well. It is recommended that women with a history of GDM, undergo lifelong screening for the development of diabetes or prediabetes at least every three years.
Treatment of Maternal Diabetes Mellitus
The treatment for GDM is focused on keeping the blood glucose levels in the normal range.
But to further propel its effect, here’s what you can do:
- Exercise regularly
- Monitor your daily blood glucose levels
- Curate a special diet, pay special attention to what you eat
- You may be required to take insulin injections if your levels are higher
Early Ophthalmological Screenings For Infants, Researchers Hope
As a conclusion to the study, the researchers attempted to hypothesise the specific aspect of diabetes that increase the risk of refractive error in offspring. They suggested that elevated plasma glucose levels may result in high fetal glucose levels.
Another explanation shared is an “increased oxidative stress and inflammatory response from the ensuing hyperglycemia” that may harm the foetus’s optical nerve.
The researchers hope that their findings will encourage health professionals to conduct early ophthalmological screenings for infants born to mums with a history of diabetes. This will help detect refractive errors as soon as possible.
For more information on how you can choose a healthy lifestyle for your baby and the whole family, visit https://babypass.health/
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