Gestational Diabetes Puts Babies at Risk

By Anita Manning

Women with gestational diabetes, a form of the disease that occurs during pregnancy and usually disappears afterward, risk having babies who are born oversized, with excess insulin, low blood sugar and possibly breathing problems.

But the risks to their babies may start to rise earlier than previously realized, even when the mother’s blood sugar levels are within what is now considered the normal range for pregnancy, says research presented at a meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago.

In a study of 23,325 women, scientists at Northwestern University found that as a mother’s blood sugar rises, the risks of having a large baby, a cesarean delivery or low blood sugar in the newborn all increased. Researchers could not say at what point increased blood sugar should trigger medical treatment, but they say the level at which gestational diabetes is diagnosed likely will be lowered based on these findings.

Other topics discussed at the meeting, ending Tuesday:

*Diabetes management. Many diabetics can’t get blood sugar levels to a safe range even with drugs, but some doctors fear that more aggressive treatment could cause extreme drops in sugar levels that can lead to coma. But a new study followed 8,641 patients at a hospital and found no association between intensification of treatment and hypoglycemia. It concludes that there is no reason to temper efforts to improve sugar control.

*Diabetic complications. A new study found hearing loss is more common among people with diabetes, although the reasons are not clear. Another report says cases of diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of blindness, could triple from 5.8 million in 2005 to 17.7 million in 2050.

*Drugs. Studies involving drugs that act on gut hormones to improve the balance between insulin and blood sugars offer new information on their safety and versatility. These new drugs act when blood sugars are too high and turn off when levels get back to normal, reducing the risk of low sugar levels. Merck presented studies showing that Januvia, licensed in October, is safe when used as long as two years and as a first-line treatment in combination with metformin. Novo Nordisk studies showed that its experimental drug, liraglutide, safely reduces blood sugar levels with the added benefit of weight loss and requires no dosing changes in patients who have kidney or liver problems. The company plans to submit a license application early next year to federal regulators. (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.