Obesity, diabetes during pregnancy linked to autism | Health ...

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Women who are obese or have diabetes are significantly more likely to have a child with autism or other developmental disabilities, a major study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics has found.

The study, by researchers affiliated with the University of California-Davis, included 1,004 mother/child pairs, with the children aged between 24 and 60 months old. There were 517 children with autism, 172 with other developmental disorders, and 315 who were developing normally.

Among moms who were diabetic during their pregnancy, the percentage of children with autism was 9.3% and with a different development delay was 11.6%, compared to 6.4% in healthy moms.

More than 20% of the mothers of children with autism or other developmental disabilities were obese, compared with 14% of the mothers of normally developing children.

The study also found that children born to diabetic mothers generally showed poorer cognitive abilities: the autistic children were "more disabled," and the children born without autism were slower in language comprehension and socialization.

Noting that obesity is a "significant risk factor for diabetes," the researchers speculate that poorly regulated glucose levels in obese and/or diabetic women lead to prolonged exposure of the fetus to high insulin.

They add that the fetus's oxygen supply may be depleted because elevated insulin production uses more oxygen. Furthermore, diabetes may result in fetal iron deficiency. Both of these conditions can adversely affect the fetal brain development, the authors said.

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