AIMS: To determine the role of serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in predicting the occurrence of septal hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in infants of mothers with diabetes.
METHODS/MATERIALS: In this prospective study, 100 pregnant women (50 with diabetes and 50 controls), matched for age and race, were studied. One intrapartum blood sample was taken at 28 weeks of gestation from both groups of mothers and another sample at delivery. All samples were analysed for maternal IGF-I by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay method. A chest radiograph and an electrocardiogram were performed on the babies of the mothers with diabetes within the first 24 hours of life. An echocardiogram was performed in the first 3 days of life to look for septal hypertrophy and to measure the myocardial thickness.
RESULTS: In the six cases of neonatal septal hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, all the mothers had greatly raised IGF-I concentrations of more than 400 ng/ml at the time of delivery compared with a mean (SD) of 302 (25) ng/ml in control mothers.
CONCLUSIONS: In the present study a crude analysis revealed that increased IGF-I concentrations correlate with neonatal septal hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Study site: Obstetric and gynaecology clinic, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Aim: To determine the incidence of an abnormal umbilical artery resistance index (UARI) in diabetic pregnancies and the relation to fetal outcome and the development of neonatal septal hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Methods: A case-control study with subjects comprising 50 randomly selected diabetic mothers and a matched control group of 50 non-diabetic pregnancies. Doppler studies of the UARI were carried out at least once per week, beginning from 36 weeks' gestation for both groups. Within 48 h post delivery, echocardiograms were carried out on the newborn infants to identify those with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, particularly asymmetrical septal hypertrophy.
Results: The numbers of patients with abnormal UARI were similar in both the diabetic and control groups. A higher proportion of operative deliveries for intrapartum fetal distress was seen in patients with an abnormal UARI in the diabetic group. However, the groups did not differ in the numbers of infants who were small for gestational age, who had low Apgar scores or umbilical artery acidosis, and who required admission to the special care nursery. Six infants of diabetic mothers (12%) had septal hypertrophy, but none of these were associated with abnormal antenatal UARI.
Conclusion: Diabetic pregnancy is not associated with a significantly higher incidence of abnormal UARI on Doppler study than non-diabetic pregnancy. UARI is not a useful single indicator by which to predict subsequent fetal outcome or the development of neonatal septal hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in diabetic pregnancies.