Pregnancy women with high blood sugar levels - even if it is below the cutoff for diabetes - are more likely to have babies with congenital heart defects, says a new study. "We already knew that women with diabetes were at significantly increased risk for having children with congenital heart disease," said the study's lead author James Priest, post-doctoral scholar in pediatric cardiology at Stanford University School of Medicine in California, US. "What we now know, thanks to this new research, is that women who have elevated glucose values during pregnancy that don't meet our diagnostic criteria for diabetes also face an increased risk," Priest noted.
Pregnancy normally involves metabolic changes that make blood sugar -- glucose -- more available to the fetus than to the mother, an important adaptation for ensuring that the fetus gets enough nourishment. However, in some women,…
