Study: gestational diabetes linked to heart disease in offspring

SHANGHAI - An international study has found that people whose mothers developed diabetes during pregnancy have increased rates of early-onset cardiovascular disease (CVD).

In recent years, the prevalence of CVD has increased in children and young adults. Previous studies show that children of mothers with diabetes are at an increased risk of some chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.

In the new study, researchers from China, Denmark, Sweden and the United States followed and analyzed health data of over 2.4 million healthy children born in Denmark from 1977 to 2016, examining the link between maternal diabetes and early-onset CVD.

According to the study published in the British Medical Journal, people whose mothers developed diabetes before or during pregnancy had a 29 percent increased rate of early-onset CVD from childhood to early adulthood.

When mothers also had a CVD history or diabetic complications during pregnancy, their children had a 60 to 73 percent higher rate of early-onset CVD.

The researchers said their findings highlighted the importance of screening and preventing diabetes in women of childbearing age.