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Diabetes in Pregnancy and Childhood Cognitive Development: A Systematic Review

Akilew Awoke Adane1, Gita D Mishra2, Leigh R Tooth2

  • 1Centre for Longitudinal and Life Course Research, School of Public Health, the University of Queensland, Australia a.adane@uq.edu.au.

Pediatrics
|June 1, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Maternal diabetes during pregnancy may negatively impact offspring cognitive development. More research is needed to confirm this link and understand potential confounding factors in children's cognitive outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Perinatal Medicine
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • The impact of maternal diabetes during pregnancy on offspring cognitive development is not well-established due to conflicting research.
  • Existing studies have yielded inconsistent findings, necessitating a comprehensive review of the available evidence.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To synthesize the scientific evidence on the association between maternal diabetes during pregnancy and cognitive development in offspring.
  • To provide an updated overview of current research linking maternal glycemic conditions during gestation to child neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • A systematic literature search was performed across major databases including PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, Embase, and CINAHL.
  • Studies were included if they examined offspring cognitive development (up to age 12) as an outcome and any form of diabetes in pregnancy as an exposure, with data extracted and quality assessed by two independent reviewers.

Main Results:

  • Fourteen articles were eligible. Ten studies on pregestational or both pre/gestational diabetes showed negative associations in 6 studies.
  • Four studies focused solely on gestational diabetes reported mixed results: 2 negative, 1 positive, and 1 null association.
  • Inconsistencies in findings may stem from varied assessment tools for cognition and diabetes, and differences in statistical power.

Conclusions:

  • Despite limited data, maternal diabetes during pregnancy appears to be associated with poorer cognitive development in offspring.
  • Further large-scale prospective studies are required to elucidate the independent effects of maternal diabetes and control for confounding variables.
Abstract

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