New research shows that children of mothers with diabetes during pregnancy have an increased risk of eye disease

This research was carried out by Dr.

RE is one of the most common forms of visual impairment, including hyperopia, myopia, and astigmatism

In recent decades, the incidence of RE has increased rapidly, indicating that non-genetic factors may play an important role in its development

Early research suggests that people with severe RE may have congenital eye defects before birth, suggesting that the conditions that the fetus is exposed to in the womb may play a role in the development of more severe RE later in life

The authors believe that exposure to maternal diabetes in the womb may negatively affect fetal development and lead to high RE in the future

The team conducted a population-based cohort study that used the medical registers of several countries in Denmark and included detailed information on all live births in Denmark from 1977 to 2016

The authors analyzed the incidence of high RE and specific types of eye problems in the offspring

During the study period, the birth rate of diabetic mothers rose from 0.

During the follow-up period, 533 offspring of diabetic mothers were diagnosed with high RE, and 19,695 offspring of non-diabetic mothers were diagnosed with high RE

The researchers observed a difference in RE risk between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

The author said: "Interestingly, hyperopia (farsightedness) is more common in childhood, while myopia (nearsightedness) is more common in adolescents and youth

They believe that this difference may be due to the natural process of emmetropism.

The advantage of this study is that it uses high-quality data covering the entire Danish population and a long-term follow-up, thereby minimizing the possibility of selection bias and recall bias

The author said: "In this nationwide population-based cohort study, we observed that children’s mothers with pre-gestational or gestational diabetes are at increased risk of developing high reinsurance, as well as specific types of high RE, which persist from newborn infants.

The researchers suggest: “Because many young children’s REs are treatable, early identification and intervention can have a life-long positive impact

They suggested that early screening for eye diseases in children of diabetic mothers may play an important role in maintaining good vision health

Journal Reference :

1. Jiangbo Du, Jiong Li, Xiaoqin Liu, Hu Liu, Carsten Obel, Hongbing Shen, Zhibin Hu, Yongfu Yu.
   Association of maternal diabetes during pregnancy with high refractive error in offspring: a nationwide population-based cohort study .
   Diabetologia , 2021; DOI : 10.
   1007/s00125-021-05526-z