A recent study discovered that children born to mothers with diabetes during pregnancy are at a higher risk of developing epilepsy.
Gestational diabetes could play a crucial role in the onset of epilepsy during childhood, according to a large Canadian study published in Pediatrics.
For the study, scientists assessed health data from over 2.1 million children born in Ontario between 2002-2018.
Nearly 7.6% of these children were exposed to gestational diabetes, type 1, type 2 diabetes.
A study author and PhD, of McGill University in Montreal, and colleagues Bénédicte Driollet stated, "To our knowledge, this study was the first study conducted in North America to be interested in the association between the diagnosis of epilepsy in children and all maternal diabetes subtypes, pre-gestational and gestational, and to evaluate the possible impact of prolonged maternal diabetes."
"Further investigation of this association is now warranted, particularly by examining the underlying mechanisms, such as assessing the effect of diabetes mediated through different pregnancy complications on the risk of epilepsy," she added.
Results indicated that children born to mothers with type 2 diabetes was found to be at the highest risk, followed by type 1 diabetes, while gestational diabetes was associated with a smaller but still increased risk
As per the experts, increased risk may be associated with pregnancy complications, which are most commonly tied to diabetes, such as preterm birth, preeclampsia, congenital anomalies, or delivery by caesarean section.
