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Fitzgerald Health Education Associates, Inc., May 2015 fhea.com
Study Suggests Maternal Type 2 Diabetes
Associated with Autism in Offspring
Exposure to maternal gestational diabetes mellitus
(GDM) diagnosed by 26 weeks' gestation was associ-
ated with risk of autism spectrum disorders, a new
Kaiser Permanente study suggests (JAMA. 2015;
313:1425-1434).
Researchers examined the health records of more
than 322,000 ethnically diverse children born be-
tween 28 and 44 weeks at Kaiser Permanente South-
ern California medical centers between January 1995
and December 2009. The children were followed for
an average of 5.5 years. Anny H. Xiang, PhD, and col-
leagues found that those exposed to gestational dia-
betes by the 26th week of pregnancy had a 63% in-
creased risk of being diagnosed with an autism
spectrum disorder than children who were not ex-
posed. After controlling for maternal age, education,
race and ethnicity, house-
hold income, and other fac-
tors, the increased risk of
autism associated with ges-
tational diabetes was 42%.
"The exposure of fetuses to maternal hyper-
glycemia may have long-lasting effects on organ de-
velopment and function," Dr. Xiang said, "but
whether this can disrupt fetal brain development
and heighten risk for neurobehavioral developmen-
tal disorders in offspring is less clear." She said that
future studies should address whether early diagno-
sis and treatment of gestational diabetes can reduce
the risk of autism.
Children whose mothers developed gestational
diabetes after 26 weeks of pregnancy had no more
risk of autism spectrum disorder than children
whose mothers did not have preexisting diabetes or
gestational diabetes.
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