Cardiovascular anomalies in infants born to diabetic mothers: A study at a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Objective: To find out the frequency of cardiovascular anomalies in infants born to diabetic mothers (IDMs). Study Design: Case-control study. Setting: Department of Pediatric Medicine and the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Rai Medical College / Teaching Hospital, Sargodha. Period: January 2022 to December 2022. Material & Methods: A total of 50 term IDMs were enrolled in case group while equal number of healthy infants (n=50) were enrolled as controls. All mothers received prenatal care. Standard diagnostic criteria were followed for labeling diabetes and gestational diabetes. All infants underwent detailed physical and clinical examination. Demographic and maternal characteristics along with perinatal and maternal information were noted. All infants underwent echocardiographic evaluation. Results: In a total of 100 infants, 51 (51.0%) were boys and 49 (49.0%) girls. The mean birth weight, Apgar score (at 5-minutes), maternal age and gestational age were 2.84±1.8 kg, 8.8±0.7, 29.5±3.2 and 37.4±1.8 weeks respectively. Maternal hypertension was observed among 12 (12.0%) subjects. Birth weight (p<0.0001), maternal age (p=0.0129) and gestational age (p=0.0110) were significantly higher among cases while Apgar score was significantly lower among cases in comparison to controls (p=0.0028). Cardiovascular anomalies were diagnosed in 10 (20.0%) cases in comparison to 3 (6.0%) controls and the difference was found to be statistically significant. Among IDMs, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) was the most frequent cardiovascular anomaly, noted in 4 (8.0%) cases. Conclusion: The frequency of cardiovascular anomalies was significantly high among IDMs in comparison to infants born to non-diabetic mothers. IDMs should undergo cardiac examination to rule out the possibility of existing cardiovascular anomalies.