High blood sugar during pregnancy ups risk of heart disease in babies

Washington D.C. [USA]: A study has recently revealed women with high blood sugar in first trimester of pregnancy, whether they have diabetes or not, are at increased risk of giving birth to a baby with congenital heart defect.

Researchers from Stanford University's medical center in Stanford, California analysed medical records from 19,107 pairs of mothers and their babies born between 2009 and 2015.

The results suggested that 811 newborns were diagnosed with congenital heart disease, and the remaining 18,296 were not.

Study's senior author James Priest said that most women who have a child with congenital heart disease are not diabetic.

"We found that in women who don't already have diabetes or develop diabetes during pregnancy, we can still measure risk for having a child with congenital heart disease by looking at their glucose values during the first trimester of pregnancy," Priest added.

The records included details of the mothers' prenatal care, including blood test results and any cardiac diagnoses made for the babies during pregnancy or after birth.

They analysed blood glucose levels from any blood sample collected from the mothers between four weeks prior to the estimated date of conception and the end of the 14th gestational week, just after the completion of the first trimester of pregnancy.

"Knowing about defects prenatally improves outcomes because mothers can receive specialized care that increases their babies' chances of being healthier after birth," Priest stated.

The research appeared in the Journal of Pediatrics.