Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Sep 15, 2023; 14(9): 1393-1402
Published online Sep 15, 2023. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v14.i9.1393
Early neonatal complications in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus and the effects of glycemic control on neonatal infection
Bei-Bei Wang, Mei Xue
Bei-Bei Wang, Mei Xue, Department of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Taizhou People’s Hospital of Jiangsu Province, Taizhou 225300, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Wang BB conceived the study; Wang BB and Xue M performed the data collection and extraction and analyzed the data; Wang BB and Xue M interpreted and reviewed the data and drafts; Xue M reviewed the final draft.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Taizhou People’s Hospital of Jiangsu Province Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: The analysis used anonymous clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment by written consent. According to institutional policy, this study was exempt from the informed consent process.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: statement: The dataset is available from the corresponding author at xuemei009260@163.com.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mei Xue, MM, Chief Physician, Department of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Taizhou People’s Hospital of Jiangsu Province, No. 399 Hailing South Road, Hailing District, Taizhou 225300, Jiangsu Province, China. xuemei009260@163.com
Received: May 6, 2023
Peer-review started: May 6, 2023
First decision: May 19, 2023
Revised: May 24, 2023
Accepted: August 4, 2023
Article in press: August 4, 2023
Published online: September 15, 2023
Processing time: 130 Days and 8.6 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is related to obesity in pregnant women, older age in pregnant women, excessive nutrition during pregnancy, lack of exercise, genetic history of familial type 2 diabetes, excessive sugar consumption and other factors. GDM often causes obstetric complications, which seriously threaten the life and health of pregnant women and newborns. Blood sugar control measures have a considerable impact on pregnancy outcome and newborn status in patients with GDM.

Research motivation

The long-term abnormal glucose metabolism in GDM pregnant women affects the immune function of newborns, and it is unclear whether poor glucose control in GDM pregnant women increases the risk of neonatal infectious diseases.

Research objectives

The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between GDM pregnant women and neonatal complications, and to analyze the impact of blood glucose control on the risk of neonatal infectious diseases.

Research methods

The clinical data of 236 pregnant women with GDM and 240 healthy pregnant women and newborns were retrospectively analyzed to compare early neonatal complications in the two groups of pregnant women. The 236 pregnant women with GDM were divided into two groups based on whether their blood sugar control reached the standard. The baseline data, neonatal immune function, infection related indicators, and neonatal infection rate in the two groups of pregnant women with GDM were compared.

Research results

The incidence of neonatal complications in GDM pregnant women was significantly higher than that in normal pregnant women. Compared with GDM pregnant women who achieved glycemic control, the proportion of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+T cells in peripheral blood and the ratio of CD4/CD8 cells in newborns from mothers who did not achieve glycemic control significantly decreased, while the white blood cell count, serum procalcitonin, and C-reactive protein levels significantly increased, and the neonatal infection rate significantly increased.

Research conclusions

The risk of neonatal complications is increased in pregnant women with GDM, and poor glycemic control leads to impairment of the fetal immune system and ultimately increases the risk of neonatal infections.

Research perspectives

The effect of blood glucose control is related to pregnancy outcome and neonatal prognosis.