Soaring Diabetes Rates May Bring Wave of Childbirth Problems

The number of pregnant women with diabetes has more than doubled in six years, according to one of the largest health surveys of expectant mothers. Doctors fear the rise will lead to a greater risk of miscarriages, stillbirths and babies with serious birth defects. Children born to diabetic women are more likely to develop diabetes themselves.

Doctors examined 175,249 women who gave birth in 11 hospitals between 1999 and 2005 and found significant jumps in pre-pregnancy diabetes in every age, racial and ethnic group.

In the youngest group studied, aged 13 to 19, diabetes rose fivefold, while it doubled among women aged 20 to 39. Women aged 40 and older showed a 40% increase in diabetes over the same time period.

Doctors believe the rise reflects the sharp increase in type 2 diabetes, which is driven by soaring rates of obesity. The study found that cases of gestational diabetes, a temporary condition which usually abates after childbirth, remained steady at 8%.

"In the US and worldwide, we're seeing an increase in type-2 diabetes. It used to be considered adult-onset diabetes, with diagnosis in the 40s, but we're seeing it in children as young as age 10," said Jean Lawrence, of Kaiser Permanente, a California-based non-profit health foundation which runs 32 hospitals. The study appears in the journal Diabetes Care.

Women with diabetes are seven times more likely to have a stillborn baby than healthy women, while those with type-2 diabetes are twice as likely to miscarry and five times more likely to have a baby with birth defects compared with women with type-1 diabetes, according to two studies by British scientists this year.

Libby Dowling, care adviser for Diabetes UK, said: "The health risks to mother and baby are well known. However, many of the risks can be reduced with good blood glucose control before and during pregnancy. Good diabetes control can only be achieved if women receive pre-conceptual counseling and access to specialist [NHS] services during their pregnancy."