Khaberni - A scientific study has shown that when a pregnant woman has diabetes, it slightly increases the risks of the newborn developing epilepsy at an early age. The study, conducted by a scientific team from several universities including the University of British Columbia, McGill, and Toronto in Canada, found that the fetus developing inside a mother with type one or two diabetes is at increased risk of developing epilepsy at the age of three years or less.
The study included more than two million children born between 2002 and 2018, of whom 8% were exposed to diabetes prenatally.
The study, published in the specialized Pediatrics journal, revealed that the risk of developing epilepsy is greater in cases where the fetus was exposed to type two diabetes.
The researchers say that the link between diabetes and epilepsy may be due to an increased probability of complications during pregnancy such as premature birth, cesarean deliveries, and pregnancy-induced hypertension, as well as fluctuations in the mother's blood sugar levels and increased chances of infections.
The researchers, in statements carried by the medical research website "Health Day," confirmed that the study does not prove a causal relationship between maternal diabetes and epilepsy in the newborn, but it does call for the necessity of early and close monitoring of newborns born to mothers suffering from diabetes.
