Treating diabetes during pregnancy can break link to childho...(igator at CHR Northwest and Hawaii and t...),Health

Date:8/27/2007

igator at CHR Northwest and Hawaii, and the lead author of the study. "The key finding here is that the risk of overweight and obese children rises in step with higher levels of blood sugar during pregnancy. The good news for pregnant women is that by treating gestational diabetes, your children's risk of becoming overweight or obese drops considerably."

"My advice to pregnant women is three-fold: Discuss gestational diabetes screening with your doctor, usually between weeks 24 and 28 of pregnancy; if you have gestational diabetes, work with your physician to treat it, and stick with the treatment during your pregnancy. It's the best thing you can do to reduce your child's risk of obesity," said Dr. Hillier.

Funded by a grant from the American Diabetes Association, the study was made possible by Kaiser Permanente's interlinked, computerized databases. As the nation's largest and oldest integrated care delivery system, Kaiser Permanente researchers can anonymously review patient records dating back many years and look for connections with the patient's family members and other aspects of the members health.

The women in the study were screened during pregnancy for blood sugar level and gestational diabetes. The women's children were measured for weight between the ages of 5 and 7 the so-called "adiposity rebound" period, a strong predictor of adult obesity. The relationship between maternal blood sugar and childhood obesity was then analyzed.

Children of mothers with high levels of blood sugar who were untreated were 89 percent more likely to be overweight and 82 percent more likely to be obese by the time they were 5 to 7 years of age, compared to children whose mothers had normal blood sugar levels during pregnancy.

The obesity risk of children whose mothers had the highest blood sugar levelsand were treated for gestational diabeteswas not statistically different than children of mothers with normal blood sugar levels
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Contact: Danielle Cass danielle.x.cass@kp.org 510-267-5354 Kaiser Permanente Division of Research Source:Eurekalert

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