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Birth defects are the leading cause of infant deaths in the U.S., and maternal diabetes mellitus (DM) is known to be a risk factor for birth defects, presumably secondary to hyperglycemia. To further examine the association between DM and birth defects, investigators conducted a case-control study among 13,030 mothers of infants with congenital anomalies and 4895 mothers of infants without birth defects.
The prevalence of pregestational DM (types 1 and 2) was significantly higher among mothers of infants with congenital anomalies than among mothers of controls (2.2% vs. 0.5%). Similarly, the prevalence of gestational DM was significantly higher among mothers of infants with congenital anomalies (5.1% vs. 3.7%). Mothers of infants with multip…