Background It is not clear to what extent maternal metabolism during pregnancy affects the cognitive and behavioral function of the offspring by altering brain development in utero. To investigate this question, we correlated measures of metabolism in pregnant diabetic and nondiabetic women with the intellectual development of their offspring. Methods The study included 223 pregnant women and their singleton offspring: 89 women had diabetes before pregnancy (pregestational diabetes mellitus), 99 had the onset of diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes mellitus), and 35 had normal carbohydrate metabolism during their pregnancy. We correlated measures of maternal glucose and lipid metabolism (fasting plasma glucose levels, hemoglobin A1c levels, episodes of hypoglycemia, episodes of acetonuria, and plasma β-hydroxybutyrate and free fatty acid levels) with two measures of intellectual development in the offspring — the mental-development index of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, give...

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM199109263251303

Correlations between antepartum maternal metabolism and intelligence of offspring.

Gestational diabetes: The consequences of not treating

Long-term developmental follow-up of infants of diabetic mothers☆☆☆★★★

Assessment of the quality of general movements in fetuses and infants of women with type-I diabetes mellitus

Impact of early growth delay on subsequent fetal growth and functional development: a study on diabetic pregnancy

Ninety nine consecutive insulin dependent and 101 non-diabetic pregnant women were examined by ultrasonograph to assess early fetal growth. In 42 of the diabetic mothers and three of the non-diabetic mothers the scan showed early intrauterine growth delay. At 4-5 years of age all children available for study were evaluated by the Denver developmental screening test. Only 23 of the 34 children of diabetic mothers with early intrauterine growth delay had normal test scores compared with 46 of the 50 children of diabetic mothers with normal intrauterine growth. The children failed in personal-social development, gross motor development, and particularly in language and speech development. Children of diabetic mothers with normal early fetal growth had scores very similar to those of the children of non-diabetic mothers, of whom 76 of the 86 tested had normal scores. This study suggests that children with a history of growth delay in early diabetic pregnancy should be screened for possible developmental impairment.

/pdf/early-growth-delay-in-diabetic-pregnancy-relation-to-10fdwyq5uw.pdf

Søren Anker Pedersen

Papers

Early growth delay in diabetic pregnancy: relation to psychomotor development at age 4.