Gestational diabetes increases the risk of type 1 or 2 of a child

Research suggests that young people whose mothers have developed diabetes during their pregnancy are twice as likely to suffer from the disease.

One study found that children of women who had been dealing with gestational illness were up to 77% more likely to suffer from type 1 or type 2 diabetes before the age of 22.

The researchers worry that this may not be clear, but it could help diagnose younger patients before they develop life-threatening complications.

McGill University research suggests that young people whose mothers have developed diabetes during their pregnancy are twice as likely to suffer from the disease (stock)

The research was conducted by McGill University in Montreal and led by Dr. Andrea Blotsky, MD, MD.

Diabetes affected 422 million people worldwide in 2014, according to the World Health Organization. About 90% of adult patients suffer from type 2.

However, more than 90% of childhood diabetes cases in Canada are type 1, the researchers wrote in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks pancreatic cells producing insulin.

While Type 2 is defined as a body that loses its ability to respond to insulin and is badociated with being overweight.

Early detection of childhood diabetes is important as about one quarter of these patients are diagnosed only when they develop life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis, the researchers wrote.

This happens when the body can not produce enough insulin, which allows it to break down fat as a fuel. This leads to an accumulation of acids called ketones in the blood.

Having a parent with type 1 or 2 diabetes has been linked to a child developing one or the other condition. However, the role of gestational diabetes was not clear.

Gestational diabetes occurs when a woman's body can not produce enough insulin to meet the extra needs of pregnancy. It usually disappears after birth.

To find a link between diseases, researchers used public health insurance data to compare the long-term outcomes of babies born between 1990 and 2007 to 73,180 mothers in Quebec.

Half of these women had gestational diabetes and the rest had not.

The young people were followed until March 2012 to determine whether they were developing infant or early diabetes.

The results revealed that babies born to mothers with gestational diabetes were 77% more likely to develop diabetes themselves from birth to 22 years.

And they were 43% more likely to develop the disease between 12 and 22 years old.

This remained true even after adjusting for factors such as birth weight, maternal deprivation, and any other autoimmune illness that the mother might have.

"We show that gestational diabetes can also be an indicator of risk of type 1 diabetes in the mother's children," said Dr. Kaberi Dasgupta, author of the study, at the divisions of Internal Medicine, Diseases and Diabetes. 39, clinical epidemiology, endocrinology and metabolism -.

"We found a child or teenager whose mother had gestational diabetes was almost twice as likely to develop type 1 diabetes before the age of 22."

The researchers hope that their study will encourage doctors to consider diabetes if a child has the telltale symptoms and if his mother suffers during pregnancy.

Symptoms may include unexplained weight loss, fatigue, abnormal urine, and excessive thirst.

The researchers added that future studies should explain why a link exists between gestational diabetes and childhood diabetes.

They should also determine whether infant diabetes is more serious in children whose mothers have gestational forms.

Dr. Jan Hux, President and CEO of Diabetes Canada – who funded the research – added, "This study is important because we are trying to understand the risk factors for type 1 diabetes.

"This research could provide more incentive for health care providers to quickly test children with typical diabetes symptoms from mothers with gestational diabetes.

& # 39; thus reducing the risk of serious incidents such as diabetic ketoacidosis.

"We look forward to improving children's lives and outcomes through further research in this area."