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Diabetes during pregnancy linked to higher rates of ADHD, autism in children, study says

By
Sara Moniuszko
Reporter, Lifestyle & Wellness
Sara Moniuszko is a health and lifestyle reporter at CBSNews.com. Previously, she wrote for USA Today, where she was selected to help launch the newspaper's wellness vertical. She now covers breaking and trending news for CBS News' HealthWatch.
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Sara Moniuszko

/ CBS News

Having diabetes during pregnancy is linked to higher rates of ADHD, autism and other neurocognitive issues in children, according to new research. 

The meta-analysis, published earlier this week in , analyzed over 56 million pregnancies across more than 200 studies. Researchers found children born to women who had diabetes during pregnancy were 28% more likely to have a neuro-developmental issue than those whose mothers didn't have the disease.

The risk was heightened by both gestational diabetes, which can develop during pregnancy, and pre-existing Type 2 diabetes, according to the study.

"We know that high blood sugar levels during pregnancy can cause other neurological issues," Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, said on "CBS Mornings" Thursday. "What's probably happening is a combination of the blood sugar levels themselves, but also how that triggers inflammation, other hormonal changes, how it turns certain genes on and off during fetal development."

It also increases the risk of having a baby who is more overweight at the time of birth, which means the delivery itself can be more complicated, Gounder added. 

If you're looking to start a family but have diabetes or another medical condition, Gounder says it's recommended to hold off getting pregnant until those conditions are under control.

The people behind forming guidelines like these to keep mothers and their children safe have recently faced cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the Trump administration. 

"This relates to some of the cuts we've recently seen at the CDC. One of the cuts was the people in the Maternal and Child Health Division," she said. "The people in that division were developing guidelines for contraception for women who had underlying medical issues, were medically complicated."

For those women, regular birth control pills and other common methods may not be the right thing, Gounder explained, highlighting the importance of that work. 

Edited by Sarah Lynch Baldwin

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