More evidence diabetes in pregnancy is linked to higher autism, ADHD risks in children

Women with diabetes who become pregnant are shown to be at particular risk of giving birth to a child with ADHD, autism or other disorders

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When mothers have diabetes while pregnant, children are 28 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder, new research suggests. It reinforces the findings of previous studies. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 5:45pm, 8 Apr 2025

A large new study adds to evidence that diabetes during pregnancy is linked with an increased risk of brain and nervous system problems in children, including autism, researchers say.

Whether diabetes actually causes those problems remains unclear. But when mothers have diabetes while pregnant, children are 28 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder, according to an analysis of data pooled from 202 earlier studies involving more than 56 million mother-child pairs.

The risks for children of mothers with diabetes during pregnancy were 25 per cent higher for autism, 30 per cent higher for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 32 per cent higher for intellectual disability.

They were also 20 per cent higher for trouble with communication, 17 per cent higher for movement problems and 16 per cent higher for learning disorders than in children whose mothers did not have diabetes while pregnant.

Diabetes diagnosed before pregnancy appeared to confer a 39 per cent higher risk for one or more of these neurodevelopmental disorders compared with gestational diabetes that begins in pregnancy and often resolves afterwards, the researchers reported in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Children born to mothers who had diabetes while pregnant had a 16 per cent higher risk of developing learning disorders than children whose mothers did not, researchers found. Photo: Shutterstock

Diabetes affects up to 9 per cent of pregnancies in the United States, with the incidence rising, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate of gestational diabetes worldwide, on average, is between 14 and 17 per cent.