High blood sugar might interfere with normal brain development, researcher says
WebMD News from HealthDay
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, April 14, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnancy-related diabetes may increase the risk a child will develop autism, new research suggests.
The blood sugar disorder, known as gestational diabetes, was linked to a moderately increased risk for an autism spectrum disorder in a study of more than 320,000 U.S. children, said study researcher Anny Xiang, director of statistical research at Kaiser Permanente Southern California.
However, it was an "observational study" and cannot prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship between gestational diabetes -- which affects up to 9 percent of pregnant women in the United States -- and autism.
"To provide perspective, this increased risk [of autism] seen with early gestational diabetes translated to around seven additional cases per 1,000 pregnancies over that seen with pregnancies that didn't involve [gestational] diabetes," Xiang said.
No increased risk of autism was associated with type 2 diabetes diagnosed before pregnancy, the study found.
One expert urged caution in interpreting the findings.
"Although this study suggests that development of gestational diabetes during the first or second trimester of pregnancy puts a fetus at increased risk for an autism spectrum disorder, the magnitude of this risk -- if real -- is relatively small," said Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at the Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York in New Hyde Park, N.Y.
"Although researchers are eager to identify as many risk factors for autism as possible, the reality is that many different health exposures and risk factors have been linked to autism spectrum disorders," said Adesman, who was not involved in the study.
Previous studies have produced mixed findings about whether gestational diabetes increases the risk of the developmental disorder in offspring, Xiang said.
About one in 68 U.S. children has an autism spectrum disorder, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These children commonly have trouble with social interaction and communication.
For the study, published April 14 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Xiang's team followed more than 320,000 children born from 1995 through 2009 at Kaiser hospitals in Southern California. During roughly 5.5 years of follow-up, 3,388 children were diagnosed with autism.
source : Is Gestational Diabetes Linked to Autism?
