Future mothers often ask themselves the question “How dangerous is gestational diabetes after giving birth?” in order to prevent possible risks for the newborns. A new study shows that children born to women with...Diabetes during pregnancymay have an increased risk of eye problems. The research team analyzed the association between maternal diabetes before or during pregnancy and the risk of refractive errors. These are conditions in which the eye cannot properly focus images on the retina.
Refractive errors are the most common forms of visual impairment and include farsightedness, nearsightedness and astigmatism. Non-genetic factors such as diabetes can play an equally important role in the development of such eye diseases. Previous research has shown that people with severe refractive errors may have congenital eye defects before birth. This suggests that the conditions the fetus is exposed to in utero may promote such abnormalities later in life. Hyperglycemia or high blood sugar as wellCholesterol during pregnancycan lead to increased fetal blood sugar levels. This damages the retina and the optic nerve, which leads to changes in the shape of the eyes and ultimately to refractive errors. Therefore, the study authors wanted to find out whether the effects of maternal diabetes in utero could negatively affect fetal development. They also hypothesized that the strongest associations would be observed in mothers with diabetic complications.
During follow-up, the research team diagnosed severe refractive errors in 533 offspring of mothers with diabetes and 19,695 babies of women without the disease. Exposure to gestational diabetes was associated with a 39% higher risk of this eye disease compared to unexposed offspring. Additionally, children of mothers with complications from diabetes were twice as likely to have eye problems. It was interesting to observe that hypermetropia (farsightedness) was more common in childhood and myopia (nearsightedness) was more common in adolescence and young adulthood. Because many of these eye diseases are treatable in young children, early detection and intervention can have lifelong positive effects. Early screening for eye disease in these children is important, according to the authorsthis studyvery important for maintaining good eyesight.
