Women with gestational diabetes who gain too much weight during pregnancy are more likely to have a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This is the conclusion of a study developed by the Endocrinology and Nutrition Department of the Mútua Terrassa Hospital in Spain, which collected data from more than a thousand women.
The study results, published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, indicate that 13% of children — now about 17 years old — of the 1,036 women enrolled in the study had gestational diabetes or had excessive weight gain during pregnancy. with ADHD. A value that, according to the study, represents twice the odds compared to the general population.
“We didn’t find that association when these women reached a healthy weight during pregnancy,” says endocrinologist Verónica Perea, quoted by the newspaper La Vanguardia, which led the investigation. A study based on evidence that women with obesity or gestational diabetes are at greater risk of having children with metabolic diseases and overweight, but also started with the suspicion that these pathologies in mothers may have cognitive effects on their children.
In addition to obesity, weight during pregnancy was also analysed. “We were surprised that if you start obese, but don’t gain more than the recommended weight, the risk of ADHD is equal to that of the normal-weight population,” said Verónica Perea.
In women “with gestational diabetes, pre-gestational obesity was associated with an increased risk of ADHD” in their children. However, when weight gained during pregnancy was taken into account, only the “joint association of obesity and overweight remained significant,” the study said.
In view of these results, the doctor emphasizes the importance of weight management, a recommendation to pregnant women that, she argued, should be reinforced. As already happens when doctors recommend the abolition of tobacco and alcohol. Because not everything ends with childbirth, he thought.
The best-case scenario would be “starting the pregnancy at the ideal weight, but if this is not possible, it is necessary to maintain strict control,” he defended. The Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition, as an example of La Vanguardia, recommends an extra 12 to 16 kilos for women of normal constitution and weight and between 6 to 9 kilos for overweight people.
In Portugal, according to the National Program for the Monitoring of Low-Risk Pregnancy, of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), 2015, normal weight women are recommended between 11.5 and 16 kilos more, gained during pregnancy, and between 7 to 11.5 pounds for overweight women.
Source: DN
