A new study suggests that daughters of women who developed gestational diabetes during pregnancy are likely to be obese later in childhood.
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes seen in pregnant women who did not have diabetes prior to pregnancy. The condition is often diagnosed between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy. The condition has been linked to an extra large baby, the need for C-section delivery, high blood pressure, and low blood sugar, according to the CDC.
Study leader Ai Kubo, an epidemiologist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., and her colleagues looked at the data of 421 girls and their mothers from 2005 to 2011. The data include annual data of each participant's height, weight, body fat, abdominal obesity, and other factors. Their mothers of the girls underwent glucose tolerance tests during their 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy.
The analysis showed that 27 mothers developed gestational diabetes. The researchers calculated that the condition increased their risks of the daughters of having a higher body mass index (BMI) by 3.5 times compared to girls whose mothers did not have the condition. Daughters of overweight mothers who had gestational diabetes were also found to be 5.5 times more likely to become overweight later in childhood.
"Glucose levels during pregnancy, particularly gestational diabetes, were associated with the girls being overweight, and this association was much stronger if the mother was also overweight before pregnancy," said Kubo in a news release.
The researchers recommend women planning to become pregnant to start improving their lifestyles and getting to a healthier weight prior to and during pregnancy to help reduce the risk of obesity in their children.
"Once obesity happens, it's really hard and expensive to reverse," Kubo said. "Working with mothers during and before pregnancy to make lifestyle improvements could have long-term benefits for their children as well."
Further details of the study were published in Diabetes Care.
