How Gestational Diabetes and ADD Relate

Gestational diabetes is a metabolic condition that mimics type 2 diabetes. Women who are in their 24-28th week of pregnancy can develop a resistance to insulin secondary to the increased amount of hormones floating around in their bodies. This resistance results in the body not being able to use sugar that is the by-product of metabolism. So, for instance, when you eat food your body breaks down the food to products the cells can use. A common product is simple sugar. But the sugar can’t get into the cells without the help of insulin.

When the insulin and cells are working well together the insulin helps the sugar into the cells and they use it for energy. But the increased amount of hormones from the pregnancy can make the body’s cells resistant to the help of the insulin leaving much of the sugar floating around in the blood stream.

This excess sugar can lead to complications for the mother and the child. In the mother the excess sugar, when gestational diabetes is left untreated, can lead to complications at birth. The increased amount of sugar is also transferred across the placental barrier and into the developing child.

Researchers have found that the excess sugar can lead to increased proliferation of beta-cells in the pancreas which secrete insulin. The increased sugar can also lead to babies who are macrosomic, or larger than normal for their gestational age. This leads to complications at birth, and for the child after birth.

Immediately after birth children who are exposed to increased sugar are at greater risk for breathing problems and low blood sugar of their own. But there are also long term effects for these children as well.

Researchers have found links to neurological abnormalities, including ADD, and gestational diabetes. Many of these links appear to become less statistically significant as the children age and reach their teen years. In one study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood researchers found that children born to diabetic mothers were heavier, had lower IQ scores below the age of 9 and more scored abnormally in the Conners questionnaire (used to evaluate the presence of ADD).

These researchers determined that the exposure to gestational diabetes increased the risk of the children having long-term minor neurological deficits that were more pronounced during their younger years.

In another study published in 2005 in Pediatric Endocrinology Review researchers found that children born to mothers who had poor glycemic control with gestational diabetes had delayed brain maturity, performed less well in fine and gross motor functions and had a higher rate of inattention or hyperactivity. They concluded that gestational diabetes can adversely affect the growth of the baby both before and after birth, including their attention span. However it didn’t affect their cognitive ability.

In a third study published out of Sweden researchers found that children of women with gestational diabetes had an increased risk of hospitalization for neurological or developmental disorders.

ADD and gestational diabetes are inexplicably linked when women are unable to maintain a good glycemic control during pregnancy. The reasons aren’t well known or understood but there are several theories that involve the fact that children who are exposed to increased amounts of insulin and sugar prenatally are also at an increased risk for obesity and altered hormonal problems.