High blood sugar levels during pregnancy may increase a baby's risk of a heart defect even among women without diabetes, a new study suggests. Health News reported that diabetes is the end of a wide range of metabolic abnormalities. Dr. James Priest, lead author and postdoctoral scholar in pediatric cardiology at Stanford University in California discussed women with diabetes are at a significantly high risk for having children with congenital heart disease.
What we know is that women who have elevated glucose [blood sugar] level during pregnancy even those who don't meet our normal criteria for diabetes also face an increased risk. The researchers examined blood samples taken from 277 California women during the second trimester of pregnancy.
The study was participated by controlled group of 180 women who had babies without heart defects and those women who had babies with one of two serious heart defects. Fifty-five babies were born with structural heart problem and the blood vessels that connect the heart to the lungs. This abnormality is called Tetralogy of Fallot. It is one of the heart defects that cause blue baby syndrome, where a baby gets too little oxygen.
The other 42 babies were born with dextrotransposition of the great arteries. This condition happens when the two main arteries from the heart are switched in position. This prevents oxygenated blood from the lungs from circulating to the body, the researchers also explained.
After analyzing the collected data, they linked elevated blood sugar levels with an increased risk of tetralogy of Fallot, but not with dextrotransposition of the great arteries. This is still true even if it is below the value for diabetes.
The researchers however found no significant link between the levels of insulin (the hormone that regulates blood sugar) and either type of heart defect, but there have been several birth defects linked with diabetes.
