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NIH plans HAPO follow-up study
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Researchers at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the NIH, have launched a follow-up study to determine whether hyperglycemia during pregnancy affects levels of body fat in children and the development of diabetes in mothers after giving birth, according to a press release.
“The goal of this study is to determine the levels of blood sugar during pregnancy that are linked to increased body fat in the child, and to a mother’s chances of developing diabetes 8 to 12 years after her pregnancy,” Mary Horlick, MD, project scientist and director of the Pediatric Clinical Obesity Program at NIDDK, said in the press release.
The Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Follow-Up Study (HAPO-FUS) will enroll 7,000 of the original HAPO mother–child patient pairs for a visit to one of the 10 original HAPO clinical centers.
The original study, conducted in 2000, examined 23,316 mother–child pairs, and researchers determined that a mother’s hyperglycemia was linked to newborn birth weight and body fat. The mothers underwent a 75-g, 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test between weeks 24 and 32 of pregnancy.
Researchers found that higher glucose levels increased risk for cesarean section among women in the first study. As a result of this, an international panel of experts proposed new diagnostic criteria for gestational diabetes in 2010, which have not been fully accepted by all professional groups.
The original children (now aged 8 to 12 years) and their mothers will undergo measurements of height, weight, blood pressure, body fat, blood sugar, insulin and lipids.
“This research will help determine if these new lower blood sugar cut points effectively predict later type 2 diabetes in the mothers and overweight, obesity, and disorders of glucose metabolism in their offspring,” researcher Boyd Metzger, MD, the Tom D. Spies professor of metabolism and nutrition at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, said in the press release.
For more information:
Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) Follow-Up Study. Accessed Feb. 21, 2013.