Assessment of neonatal glycaemic status and comorbidities in infants of diabetic mothers admitted to the neonatal care unit of Al-Ramadi Teaching Hospital for maternity and childhood, Iraq.

OBJECTIVE: To assess neonatal and maternal characteristics, glycaemic status and comorbidities in the neonates of diabetic mothers.

METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2021 to May 2022 at the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Mustansiriyah, Baghdad, Iraq, and comprised healthy women. Samples were raised by simple random technique. Digital pulse waves were captured using a fingertip pulse wave transducer. Lab Chart Pro version 7.2 was used to automatically detect and quantify the amplitude of A, B, C, D and E waves expressed by the second derivative. QT interval of each beat was recorded by electrocardiogram, and was calculated automatically via Lab chart Pro version 7.2 without averaging. Data was spread out on Microsoft Office Excel 2013 and analysed using SPSS version 26.

RESULTS: Among the 70 mothers, aged between 18 to 44 years, gestational diabetes was the commonest type 52(74.3%), and, among the 70 neonates, 52(74.3%) developed mild hypoglycaemia, 12(17.1%) hypocalcaemia, 26(37.1%) congenital heart disease, 50(71.4%) respiratory distress syndrome, 24(34.3%) hyperbilirubinaemia, 2(2.9%) congenital anomalies, 6(8.6%) prematurity, and 4(5.7%) developed birth asphyxia. Prematurity, female gender and low birthweight were significantly associated with hypoglycaemia (p<0.05). No significant differences were detected in terms of neonatal complications between pregestational and gestational diabetic mothers (p>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Diabetic pregnancies were linked to a higher risk of neonatal complications.