Echocardiographic measurements in infants of diabetic mothers and macrosomic infants of nondiabetic mothers.

AIM: To compare echocardiographic findings of infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs), macrosomic infants of nondiabetic mothers and healthy full term appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) infants.

METHODS

Included in this study were 83 infants, admitted to our Neonatology Unit. Thirty-three IDMs, including both macrosomic and nonmacrosomic, comprised Group A, 25 macrosomic infants of nondiabetic mothers comprised group B, and 25 healthy full term AGA infants comprised group C. Echocardiographic measurements were performed in the first three days after birth and compared by using one-way ANOVA, Post Hoc Tukey HSD and Student's t tests.

RESULTS

The left ventricular end-systolic/left ventricular end-diastolic diameter ratio of group A was significantly smaller than that of group C (P<0.05). The interventricular septum/posterior wall thickness ratios of groups A and B were greater than those of group C (P<0.05). The left ventricular mass index of group A was greater than those of groups B and C (P<0.05). The shortening fraction and ejection fraction of group A were increased in comparison to group C (P<0.05). When comparing the values of echocardiographic measurements of macrosomic IDMs (n=9) with nonmacrosomic ones (n=24), and infants of pregestational diabetic mothers (n=11) with those of gestational diabetes mothers (n=22), no statistical difference was found.

CONCLUSION

The present study suggests that underlying mechanisms common to both macrosomic infants of nondiabetic mothers and IDMs lead to less cardiac alterations in the macrosomic infants of nondiabetic mothers than in IDMs.