The study discovered that women who had not been diagnosed with diabetes prior to becoming pregnant but were diagnosed in their first 26 weeks of pregnancy were 42 percent more likely to have a child who would be diagnosed with autism.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Anny Xiang of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation, said they are uncertain as to why their study found an increased autism risk in mothers with gestational diabetes.
However, they believe the developing brain’s exposure to a high level of blood sugar from the mother may somehow cause its growth to be interrupted. This may effect areas of the brain that are important for communication and behavior.
The study found that those mothers diagnosed with diabetes after the 26th week of pregnancy did not have an increased risk of birthing a child with autism.
Further, women who had already been diagnosed with diabetes before their pregnancy also did not have a greater risk of having a child who would be diagnosed with autism. The researchers believe this is because those who had already been diagnosed with diabetes before pregnancy had their blood sugar levels under control.
The study, entitled The Association of Maternal Diabetes With Autism in Offspring, looked at data of some 322,000 children born in California between 1995 and 2009. It concluded that with “children born at 28 to 44 weeks’ gestation, exposure to maternal GDM diagnosed by 26 weeks’ gestation was associated with risk of ASD in offspring.”
