Prevalence of congenital anomalies and neonatal complications in the offspring of diabetic mothers in Israel

The prevalence of diabetes in pregnancy and its fetal and perinatal consequences in a large population of Israeli pregnant women during the last decade are presented. The study population consisted of 878 gestational diabetic women, 132 pre-gestational diabetic women, and 380 healthy pregnant women who served as controls. Minor congenital anomalies ranging between 19.4 and 20.5%, major congenital anomalies between 1.80 and 6.82%, and neonatal complications, such as macrosomia (5.6-25.0%), hypoglycemia (0.9-7.8%), hyperbilirubinemia (8.2-16.7%), hypocalcemia (2.7-5.5%) and polycythemia (3.8-13.3%), were observed in the study population. Despite meticulous maternal glucose control, we could not entirely eliminate fetal and neonatal complications. The definition of the normal and abnormal fetal intrauterine metabolic environment remains to be elucidated.