Cardiovascular Complications in Infants of Diabetic Mothers: An Observational Study in a Pediatric Cardiology Clinic in Tehran

Background: Despite improvements in medical care provided during pregnancy to diabetic mothers, the cardiac complications in their infants are still more frequent than in the infants of general population. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to explore the spectrum of cardiovascular complications in infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs). The study was also aimed at investigating probable relations between infants’ heart lesions, the type of maternal diabetes, and the neonatal somatic data. Patients and Methods: Between July 2010 to June 2011, two-dimensional/M-mode and Doppler echocardiography evaluations were performed in IDMs at the out-patient clinic of the pediatric cardiology ward of a University hospital in Tehran. Results: A total of 32 IDMs (18 male and14 female) were studied. Congenital heart disease (CHD) was found in 6 (18.7%) neonates and 3 of them suffered from conotruncal malformations. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) was observed in 15(46.9%) cases. There were 22 (68.8%) large for gestational age (LGA) infants. Gestational diabetes was found in 21(65.6%) mothers. We did not find a significant relation between the types of maternal diabetes and the frequency of CHD (P = 0.9), and the frequency of HCM in their infants (P = 0.9). Also a significant relation could not be found between LGA and the rate of CHD (P = 0.6) or the rate of HCM (P = 0.4). Conclusions: Our data showed a high prevalence of CHD in IDMs in our pediatric cardiology clinic. Neither the types of maternal diabetes nor the somatic findings of newborns were related to the occurrence of cardiac complications.