On the appearance of islet associated autoimmunity in offspring of diabetic mothers: a prospective study from birth.

For the first time the incidence of insulin autoantibodies and islet cell antibodies were evaluated in a prospective study from birth. Consecutive neonates (168) from mothers with Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus (n = 113) and gestational diabetes (n = 55) were included at birth. To date, follow-up sera were obtained from 90 of 168 mother-child-pairs 9 months postpartum and from 39 of 168, 2 years postpartum. At birth, there was a strong correlation between the presence of antibodies in the cord blood of neonates and in maternal circulation [Type 1 diabetic mothers: 20% islet cell antibodies > or = 20 JDF-U (detection threshold of our islet cell antibody assay), 74% insulin antibodies > 49 nU/ml (upper limit of normal range in sera of healthy control subjects aged 0.5 to 46 years); neonates: 21% islet cell antibodies > or = 20 JDF-U, 76% insulin antibodies > 49 nU/ml; gestational diabetic mothers: 11% islet cell antibodies > or = 20 JDF-U, 18% insulin antibodies > 49 nU/ml; neonates: 13% islet cell antibodies > or = 20 JDF-U, 55% insulin antibodies > 49 nU/ml]. This supports transplacental passage of insulin antibodies and islet cell antibodies from diabetic mothers to their offspring. During follow-up, the majority of children lost antibody-positivity after birth. A few offspring, however, exhibited or developed antibodies consistently, whereby insulin autoantibodies preceded islet cell antibodies in each case (antibody-positivity: 9 months: 0% islet cell antibody positive, 3.3% insulin autoantibody positive; 2 years: 2.6% islet cell antibody positive, 7.7% insulin autoantibody positive).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Educating the diabetic patient as a basis for therapy]. / Schulung des Diabetikers als Grundlage der Therapie.

Since the late 1970's, diabetes therapy has been revolutionized and, in fact, new treatment strategies have been initiated by patient education and the resulting self-monitoring of the patient. The modern management of the chronic lifelong disease diabetes mellitus not only requires the prescription of the appropriate nutritional and pharmacologic regimen by the physician, but also intensive education and counselling of the patient. It is the diabetic himself who ultimately has to secure the treatment as given by the physician in daily life and--in so doing--has to provide a great deal of self-care and self-control. Meeting the individual treatment goal is largely dependent upon the cooperation and motivation of the patient, with the physician as both the sympathetic and critical counterpart. Today, education is the indispensible prerequisite for the limited well-being and health of diabetics and, at this end, education is equal to therapy.

[Neonatal morbidity of children of diabetic mothers]. / Neonatale Morbidität von Kindern diabetischer Mütter.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the risk of neonatal morbidity in infants of diabetic mothers in relation to birth weight percentiles, maternal White classification and metabolic control during pregnancy. The subjects consisted of 51 infants of gestational and Type II diabetic women and 148 infants of insulin-dependent diabetic women. The following neonatal symptoms commonly associated with maternal diabetes were analyzed: macrosomia, hypoglycemia, erythremia, hyperbilirubinemia, hypocalcemia, prematurity and hyaline membrane disease. The incidence of the symptoms was as follows: hypoglycemia in the first hour of life 34.3% macrosomia 24.6%, hyperbilirubinemia 23.7%, prematurity 18.1%, hypoglycemia after the first hour of life 16.6%, hypocalcemia 11.1%, erythremia 7.6%, and hyaline membrane disease 2.0%. There were statistically significant differences in the symptoms "hypoglycemia after the first hour of life" and "erythremia" between the birth weight percentile groups, i.e. the incidence of these symptoms increased with higher birth weights. The risk of neonatal morbidity among infants of insulin-treated gestational diabetics was higher than that of infants of diet-controlled gestational diabetic women. The incidence of macrosomia and hypocalcemia was significantly higher in the first group. Newborns of insulin-dependent diabetic women with proliferative retinopathy and/or nephropathy (White class FR) had an increased risk of neonatal morbidity in comparison to infants of White classes B, C, and D, especially with regard to prematurity and associated problems. Neonatal morbidity varies with the quality of metabolic control in women with insulin-dependent diabetes. Infants of poorly-controlled mothers were more often macrosomic and premature than infants of well-controlled mothers.