Posted by: Maria/MDHealthForum.com Team

Babies born to mothers with gestational diabetes run a higher risk of developing complications such as low blood sugar level, jaundice and respiratory problems. Their struggles, however, don’t end in the infancy stage. A study conducted by researchers from Université Laval’s School of Psychology showed that kids born to mothers with pregnancy-related diabetes are at risk of language delay problems which may carry through until middle childhood.

The study was led by Professor Ginette Dionne. They analyzed the grammar and vocabulary skills of 221 children born to mothers with gestational diabetes. More than 2600 children who were born to healthy mothers comprised the control group. The vocabulary and grammar tests were conducted at different intervals between ages 18 months and 7 years.

Results of the tests showed that the kids born to mothers with gestational diabetes have inferior language ability as evidenced by their lower scores in the tests than the children in the control group. Based on researchers’ analysis, the children born to mothers with pregnancy-related diabetes are 2.2 times more at risk of a language impairment than those born to healthy mothers. This may be related to the effects of gestational diabetes on the brain development of babies.

The researchers observed that the children of more educated mothers seemed spared from language impairment. According to Professor Dionne, it may be due to the more stimulating environment provided by the highly educated mothers. However, the professor also mentioned that the genes could make some babies less vulnerable. Thus further studies are needed to prove whether genetics or environmental factors protect the children from possible delay in language development.

Sources:
Silverman B, Metzger BE, Cho NH, Loeb CA. Impaired glucose tolerance in adolescent offspring of diabetic mothers: relationship to fetal hyperinsulinism. Diabetes Care 1995;18:611-617.

Université Laval (2008, November 8 ). Pregnancy Diabetes Doubles Risk Of Language Delay In Children. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 9.

Jones CW. Gestational diabetes and its impact on the neonate. Neonatal Netw. 2001;20(6):17-23.

PEDIATRICS Vol. 122 No. 5 November 2008, pp. e1073-e1079 (doi:10.1542/peds.2007-3028)
Ginette Dionne, PhD, Michel Boivin, PhD, Jean R. Séguin, PhD, Daniel Pérusse, PhD, and Richard E. Tremblay, PhD