The offspring of a diabetic mother--short- and long-range implications.

Maternal metabolic aberrations during pregnancy complicated by diabetes are responsible for profound changes in all aspects of fetal intrauterine development and, later, short-, and long-range implications on the neonate and the child. In this article we review the evidence that has been accumulated in the literature linking the aberrant fuel mixture and fetal hyperinsulinemia to the long-range neonatal and childhood complications of the offspring of the diabetic mother.