Ravi Retnakaran1,2,3, Chang Ye1, Anthony J Hanley1,2,4, Philip W Connelly2,5,6, Mathew Sermer7, Bernard Zinman1,2,3, Jill K Hamilton8. 1. Leadership Sinai Centre for Diabetes, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 2. Division of Endocrinology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 3. Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 4. Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 5. Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 6. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 7. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 8. Division of Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The continuum of maternal glycemia in pregnancy shows continuous associations with both 1) neonatal birth weight at delivery and 2) subsequent adiposity later in childhood. While treating gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) can lower birth weight and thereby disrupt the former association, it is unclear if such treatment reduces childhood adiposity. Thus, we sought to compare anthropometry across the 1st year of life between infants born to women who were treated for GDM and those with lesser degrees of gestational dysglycemia (untreated). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Anthropometric measurements were performed at 3 months and 12 months of life in 567 infants born to women comprising the following four gestational glucose tolerance groups: 1) women with normoglycemia on both glucose challenge test (GCT) and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in pregnancy; 2) women with an abnormal GCT but normal OGTT; 3) those with mild gestational impaired glucose tolerance; and 4) women treated for GDM. RESULTS: Birth weight progressively increased across the three untreated groups but was lowest in women treated for GDM (P = 0.0004). Similarly, women treated for GDM had the lowest rate of macrosomia (P = 0.02). Conversely, however, there were no differences among the four groups in weight z score, length z score, weight-for-length z score, or BMI z score at either 3 months or 12 months (all P values = NS). Similarly, there were no differences among the groups in triceps/biceps/subscapular/suprailiac skinfold thickness or sum of skinfolds at either 3 months or 12 months (all P values = NS). CONCLUSIONS: Despite reducing birth weight and macrosomia, the treatment of GDM does not have analogous effects on infant adiposity across the 1st year of life.
OBJECTIVE: The continuum of maternal glycemia in pregnancy shows continuous associations with both 1) neonatal birth weight at delivery and 2) subsequent adiposity later in childhood. While treating gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) can lower birth weight and thereby disrupt the former association, it is unclear if such treatment reduces childhood adiposity. Thus, we sought to compare anthropometry across the 1st year of life between infants born to women who were treated for GDM and those with lesser degrees of gestational dysglycemia (untreated). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Anthropometric measurements were performed at 3 months and 12 months of life in 567 infants born to women comprising the following four gestational glucose tolerance groups: 1) women with normoglycemia on both glucose challenge test (GCT) and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in pregnancy; 2) women with an abnormal GCT but normal OGTT; 3) those with mild gestational impaired glucose tolerance; and 4) women treated for GDM. RESULTS: Birth weight progressively increased across the three untreated groups but was lowest in women treated for GDM (P = 0.0004). Similarly, women treated for GDM had the lowest rate of macrosomia (P = 0.02). Conversely, however, there were no differences among the four groups in weight z score, length z score, weight-for-length z score, or BMI z score at either 3 months or 12 months (all P values = NS). Similarly, there were no differences among the groups in triceps/biceps/subscapular/suprailiac skinfold thickness or sum of skinfolds at either 3 months or 12 months (all P values = NS). CONCLUSIONS: Despite reducing birth weight and macrosomia, the treatment of GDM does not have analogous effects on infant adiposity across the 1st year of life.