ANN ARBOR—Mothers’ blood sugar levels and weight gain during pregnancy” as well as their weight before pregnancy” may predict their infants’ unhealthy birth weights, according to research conducted by a team of University of Michigan researchers and Detroit health care providers.

In this two-year study, U-M researchers analyzed medical record data, measured weights, social characteristics and studied the results of the blood screening test for gestational diabetes conducted during pregnancy for 1,041 Latino mother-infant pairs. The women, most of whom were of Mexican ancestry, received prenatal care at Community Health and Social Services, Inc. (CHASS)” a community health center in southwest Detroit” and gave birth at the Henry Ford Hospital.

Forty-two percent of women entered pregnancy overweight or obese, and at least 36 percent exceeded the weight-gain recommendations of the Institute of Medicine. Twenty-seven percent of the women had at least some degree of glucose abnormality, including 6.8 percent who had gestational diabetes.

” Diabetes tends to cause babies to grow abnormally fat because higher levels of sugar (glucose) and fats (lipids) in the mother’s blood provide extra fuel for fetal growth,” said Edith Kieffer, the study’s lead author and an associate professor in the U-M School of Social Work. ” Women with an abnormal screen test have heavier babies on average than women whose screen test is normal, even if they don’t have gestational diabetes.”

The findings appear in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Public health promotion programs, as well as health care policies and research, have long made the assumption that babies who are not low birth weight are healthy. Kieffer noted that the health needs of Latino mothers and babies have often been ignored in U.S. health policy and research.

This study helps demonstrate that many Latino infants’ birth weights are higher because of less positive factors, namely their mothers’ abnormally high blood sugar levels, and excessive weight and weight gain. Evidence from other studies has shown that these potentially modifiable maternal characteristics are also markers of risk for type 2 diabetes in both mothers and their babies. Latinos are developing type 2 diabetes at more than twice the rate as non-Hispanic whites and at younger ages, she noted.

Kieffer emphasized that pregnancy and the first year after birth give health professionals and communities unique opportunities to help prevent type 2 diabetes and its many, severe complications. Pre-conceptional, prenatal and postpartum care and clinic and community-based programs can assist women to eat healthy, get at least moderate amounts of exercise most days of the week.

” These factors are important in achieving and maintaining appropriate weight and glucose status before, during and after pregnancy,” Kieffer said.

The study’s results also suggest that research related to birth weight, including those that assess racial and ethnic disparities in fetal growth, should include measures of glucose tolerance (blood sugar levels and status) during pregnancy, maternal weight and weight gain in addition to more commonly used sociodemographic, prenatal care and behavioral variables.

After finishing this study, Kieffer and her university, health system and community organization colleagues joined with CHASS patients, staff and board of directors to plan programs and services that help increase women’s awareness of type 2 diabetes and its risk factors. The group also wants to help women develop and maintain the knowledge, skills and resources needed for healthy lifestyles

Collaborating with Kieffer were U-M researchers Bahman Tabaei, William Herman and Wendy Carman; George Nolan of U-M and previously of the Henry Ford Health System (Detroit); and J. Ricardo Guzman of the Community Health and Social Services, Inc. (Detroit).

The study was supported by the U.S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau and the National Institutes of Health (Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders.

Related Links:

• More information on Kieffer
• U-M School of Social Work
• Community Health & Social Services
• Henry Ford Health System
• Michigan Research and Training Diabetes Center