Altered diastolic function in infants of mothers with gestational diabetes: No relation to macrosomia

In a previous study, asymptomatic infants of mothers with gestational diabetes (IGDMs) were observed to have altered left ventricular (LV) filling. In the present study, we reanalyzed the data to examine whether the observed abnormalities were related to maternal diabetes or due to the greater preponderance of macrosomic infants (32%) in the gestational diabetes group. No echocardiographic (systolic or diastolic) differences were observed when the data were compared in 16 large-for-gestational-age (LGA) and 24 appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) infants among IGDM. Comparison of 16 LGA IGDM and 17 LGA infants of control mothers revealed lower LV size during diastole and systole in the IGDM. The present analysis suggests that the cardiac alterations in the IGDMs are not due to the preponderance of macrosomia but, rather, the consequence of altered in utero metabolic environment.