ESPE Abstracts

Abstract: We report the effect of different forms of dysglycemia on the occurrence of neonatal hypoglycemia in a large cohort of pregnant women studied as a part of a PEARL-Peristat Study, funded by QNRF- Doha-Qatar

Methods: Out of 12255 pregnant women screened during 2016-2017, 3027 women were identified with gestational diabetes (GDM) (WHO criteria) and 233 were diabetic (DM) before pregnancy. All dysglycemic women were managed according to related guideline/protocol with 3 or more clinical visits during the pregnancy period. Neonatal hypoglycemia was defined as a plasma glucose level of less than 30 mg/dL (1.65 mmol/L) in the first 24 hours of life and less than 45 mg/dL (2.5 mmol/L) thereafter. Data on neonatal hypoglycemia for babies admitted to NICU was collected from the hospital records.

Results: Babies born to DM and GDM mothers required more admissions to NICU for various reasons ( 24.5 %, 15.96% and 11.9 % respectively (P < 0.01), Neonatal hypoglycemia in infants admitted to NICU occurred more frequently in babies of DM and GDM compared to non-diabetic women (45.6%, 18.6%, and 4.7% respectively). Neonatal hypoglycemia occurred more in babies < 36 weeks of gestational age (GA) versus those > 37 weeks of GA in non-diabetic women. However, neonatal hypoglycemia occurred more in babies born >37 weeks of age to DM ( 51.3%) and GDM (20.8%) when compared to babies born between 32 and 36 weeks of GA. Prolonged exposure to maternal Dysglycemia appears to stimulate more insulin secretion during in-utero life which is reflected more on the term and near-term infants.

Conclusion: Babies born to treated dysglycemic women are still prone to develop hypoglycemia more often than newborns of normoglycemic women. Full-term and near-term newborns delivered to mothers with treated dysglycemia had a higher prevalence of hypoglycemia compared to preterm newborns.