Diabetes during pregnancy can increase a child’s lifelong heart risk

Monday, September 28, 2020 (Health Day News)-The basis of early heart disease can begin in the uterus rather than in childhood or later years.

Researchers studying nearly 30 years of data from families in Manitoba, Canada, have found a strong association between risk factors for heart disease in teens and young adults and maternal type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes. did.

“I was surprised at the strength of the association, because people exposed to diabetes are at two to three times the risk of being exposed to diabetes,” said research author Leticia Giemetto. During her research, she was a PhD candidate at the University of Manitoba and is now a scientific evaluator at Health Canada.

In this study, researchers used data from almost all children born in Manitoba for over 30 years to analyze their effects on offspring between the ages of 10 and 35, when the study was completed.

The data show the health history of more than 290,000 children born to 190,000 mothers between 1979 and 2005.

According to the survey results, more than 8,700 offspring were diagnosed with hypertension, nearly 3,600 had type 2 diabetes and 715 had ischemic heart disease. Children of mothers with diabetes were 30% to 80% more likely to develop heart disease and 2-3 times more likely to develop risk factors for heart disease such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

These health problems were also discovered at an earlier age in pregnant mothers than their non-diabetic siblings. Previous studies have shown that people with intrauterine exposure to diabetes but not heart disease are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Robert Gavey is Chief Science and Medical Officer of the American Diabetes Association. “This is for younger individuals with heart disease. This is really worrisome. By the age of 35, it can lead to heart disease. We usually have heart disease much older. I think there is. “

Controlling diabetes during pregnancy is especially important and can be done as needed by working with diet, medication, and the patient’s medical team to understand what is best, Gabey added. It was.

“People with high blood sugar levels during pregnancy know that they have larger babies, are more likely to have difficulties during childbirth, have a higher caesarean section rate, and have a variety of pregnancy complications,” Gabey said. .. “High blood sugar causes all of this, but controlling blood sugar prevents all of this, so the link is very strong.”

The study was published on September 28 CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), Has not identified why mother’s diabetes affects the heart. However, one hypothesis suggests that fetal organs are made in real time using the nutrients available to them, Gillemett said.

“Baby is basically preparing for life to be exposed to that kind of nutrients, and as a growing person becomes exposed to different kinds of nutrients. It works.” It was.

Another hypothesis is that if nutrients are not balanced during growth, the organs are set up imperfectly from birth and do not work well, she added.

“My goal was to emphasize the fact that many of the things that affect our health are not directly related to individual decisions or lifestyles,” Giremet said.

The study authors suggested that this finding may help preventive health, including screening for cardiovascular risk factors in children who have experienced intrauterine exposure to diabetes. Gillemet also hopes that policy makers can work to create a healthier environment for everyone.

“Our study adjusted that, but we can see that both diabetes and heart disease are clustered with poverty. Addressing poverty may solve two problems.” I think it also means that we cannot see not only interventions for diabetes, but also interventions for heart disease.

For more information

For more information on diabetes and pregnancy National Diabetes Institute and Gastrointestinal and Kidney Disease..