Long-term prognosis of infants of diabetic mothers. Relationship between metabolic disorders in newborns and adult offspring.

The aim of our study was to find out whether the metabolic disorders in the newborns of insulin-dependent diabetic mothers (NDM) in the neonatal adaptation period could be associated with their condition in adulthood. We examined 148 children of diabetic mothers (CDM) aged 20.75 +/- 0.31 years (mean +/- SE); 11 were diabetic patients, while in the remaining 137 CDM, the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed. CDM were compared with 31 matched control offspring of healthy mothers. Of the characteristic abnormalities occurring in NDM, the following were present in our study: macrosomia, hypoglycaemia, hyperlactacidaemia, hyperbilirubinaemia. In adulthood, the sum of the blood glucose and plasma insulin values during OGTT, body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure were determined. The observed abnormalities and the degree of their relevance in the neonatal period were not related to the sum of blood glucose and plasma insulin levels, BMI and blood pressure in adulthood, but the values of all these parameters in adulthood were significantly higher in CDM than in controls (P < 0.05-0.001).