Diabetes epidemic leads to malformed babies and puts mums-to-be at risk of death and blindness

The nation’s diabetes epidemic is producing stillborn babies and risking the lives of new mothers as the disease rate soars.

Exclusive: The nation’s diabetes epidemic is producing malformed and still born babies and putting new mums at risk of death and blindness.

The shocking revelations come from a leading diabetes researcher who is pleading for more resources, as the number of women with gestational diabetes almost triples.

At Liverpool Hospital, in Sydney, 7 per cent of babies with malformations are born to women with diabetes Professor David Simmons from the University of Western Sydney said.

“The general public need to understand we are in the middle of a diabetes epidemic and the price we are paying is substantial,” he said.

“Ten to fifteen per cent of the money we spend on health is going on diabetes and part of it is on babies damaged at birth.”

He estimates the lifetime cost of a baby malformed as a result of diabetes is $1 million.

It’s estimated around 1.7 million Australians have diabetes, this includes 500,000 people with the disease undiagnosed.

In 2005-07 around one per cent of pregnant women had Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes and a further 5 per cent developed gestational diabetes.

By 2013 that had soared to 10-15 per cent of women who developed gestational diabetes.

Jordanna Moroney, age 34, from Leumeah had a baby boy, Sebastian on December 30. Jordanna discovered she had gestational diabetes when she was 15 weeks pregnant and took part in a special program to control her diabetes. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Babies of mothers with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are more likely to be stillborn than babies born to mothers without the conditions and they are sometimes born very large, up to 6.4 kilos.

Babies whose mothers have uncontrolled diabetes are also at risk of serious malformations caused by high blood glucose levels.

The development of the baby’s heart can be affected with blood vessels not joined to the right chamber, the nervous system may not close properly and the baby may be unable to walk or feel, Professor Simmons said.

“Babies can be born with no kidneys. It’s really horrific,” he said.

In the general population two in one hundred pregnancies will involve a malformed baby but in pregnancies where mothers have poor blood glucose control that rises to a risk of one in three or 35 per cent, he said.

Women who have diabetes during pregnancy are themselves at risk of preeclampsia, kidney disease, hypoglycaemia, infection, coma and heart attacks.

They are also at risk of blindness. If they have pre-existing minor eye disease the pregnancy can accelerate the disease and they may need to have the baby early to avoid going blind.

A leading diabetes researcher who is pleading for more resources as the proportion of pregnant women with diabetes more than triples.

Mothers born in high diabetes risk regions, such as Polynesia, Asia and the Middle East, were more likely to have Type 2 diabetes, and three times as likely to have gestational diabetes as mothers born in Australia.Professor Simmons is running a trial to see whether early identification of women with gestational diabetes and structured management can improve outcomes for mothers and babies.

He is also involved in the Western Sydney University-led Diabetes Contraception and Pre-Pregnancy Program (DCAPP) to ensure women with type one and type two diabetes are aware of the risks surrounding pregnancy, and provides them with multidisciplinary support and care to help them minimise these risks, especially malformations.

“We feel we could, with a structured approach, stop 10 malformations a year,” he says.

Jordanna Moroney, 34, had to work hard to control gestational diabetes before she gave birth to her son Sebastian on December 30 and said mothers need better education and support.

“I’m not diabetic generally but it developed during pregnancy. I knew I was high risk so I was screened early at 15 weeks,” the mum from Leumeah in Sydney said.

“Most women are not screened until 28 weeks.”

Ms Moroney was enrolled in Professor Simmon’s trial and tested her blood sugar levels four times a day, ate a carefully controlled diet and exercised regularly to control her blood glucose levels throughout the pregnancy.

She had fortnightly check ups with doctors and midwives and extra ultrasounds to ensure the baby was developing normally.

Sebastian was born by emergency caesarean section because he had a low foetal heart rate.

Jordanna is worried most women are not warned of the risks of diabetes in pregnancy and that most don’t get enough support to have the test early.

“I knew I was high risk because my mother had it and I had other risk factors so I asked to be tested,” she said.

Originally published as Diabetes epidemic leads to malformed babies and puts mums-to-be at risk of death and blindness