ESPE Abstracts (2014) 82 FC4.6

ESPE2014 Free Communications Growth (6 abstracts)

Longitudinal Growth of Finnish Children With Gestational Diabetes in Mothers

Tiina Hakanen , Nina Vuorela , Ludmila Lipiäinen , Matti K Salo , Tapio Nummi & Marja-Terttu Saha


University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland


Background: With the increase of overweight prevalence an increasing number of women develop gestational diabetes.

Objective and hypotheses: We evaluated the growth of 6902 children of mothers with gestational diabetes. The secular trends in the prevalence of children with gestational diabetes in mothers was studied during 30 years.

The material consisted of children born 1974 (n=1108), 1981 (n=977), 1991 (n=583), 1995 (n=786), 2001 (n=765), and 2003–2004 (n=2683).

Method: The measurement data was collected from health records. BMI was calculated. The BMI between children with gestational diabetes in mothers and with non-diabetic mothers were compared using the Mann–Whitney U-test. Pearson’s χ2 test was used for analysing association between overweight and gestational diabetes.

Results: The prevalence of children with mothers presenting with gestational diabetes has increased from 0.1% in 1974 to 17.6% in 2004. The mean BMI was significantly higher in children with gestational diabetes in mothers at the age of 5, 7, and 12 years compared to children with non-diabetic mothers (P values <0.001). Furthermore, overweight was significantly more common (P value <0.001) at the age of 5, 7, and 12 years (24, 30, and 42%) compared to children with non-diabetic mothers (16, 18, and 19%, respectively).

Conclusion: Following the increasing prevalence of overweight, the number of children born to mothers with gestational diabetes is increasing. These children grow bigger already at the age of 5 years compared to their peers of non-diabetic mothers. The difference in growth proceeds towards adolescence.

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