A new study with special pertinence to women with PCOS that jumped off of my computer screen, despite having received little attention on Twitter and the general media.
Researchers evaluated a total of 41,902 women divided into three successive five-year periods. What they found was that in women who were diabetic before conceiving, the incidence of birth defects in their babies increased. In the time that these women were pregnant, the rate of pre-gestational diabetes tripled, from 1% to 3%. The risk of birth defects potentially attributed to pre-gestational diabetes jumped during the time of the study, from 3.3% to 9.2%.
Let's do some math. In 2007, 4,317,119 babies were born in the United States. 129,513 of those babies were born to mothers who were diabetic prior to conception. 11,915 of those babies were born with birth defects potentially related to the mother's diabetes.
At inCYST, we don't just want you to get pregnant. We want you to have the healthiest baby possible, and for you to live the fullest life possible, for as long as possible, so that you can enjoy the baby you worked to have.
Please, if you're desiring to become pregnant, and you're diabetic, consider working with a PCOS-trained dietitian to reduce the health risks for both of you involved in this journey. Our list to the right of this blog is a great place to get started finding just such a trained professional.
Biggio JR Jr, Chapman V, Neely C, Cliver SP, Rouse DJ. Fetal anomalies in obese women: the contribution of diabetes. Obstet Gynecol. 2010 Feb;115(2 Pt 1):290-6.