Evaluating the effects of maternal diabetes on early infant neurodevelopment with a novel combination of four neurodevelopmental tools

There are associations between maternal diabetes and neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and intellectual disabilities. Using this knowledge, our objective is to characterize the effects of type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on the neurodevelopment of infants. We performed a prospective study on 54 infants of mothers with T1DM (n = 10), T2DM (n = 24), and non-diabetic controls (n = 20). To evaluate their neurodevelopment in multiple developmental domains, we used four assessments on 1-2-month-old infants: The Hammersmith Neonatal Neurological Examination (HNNE), The Dubowitz exam, The Capute Scales, and The General Movement Assessment (GMA). Differences in neurodevelopmental outcomes did not reach statistical significance in any of the four assessments, individually or combined. However, we note the following trends: 20 infants had suboptimal neuromotor development (HNNE score < 30.5). T1DM group infants had lower mean language scores (83.7 vs 105.85) when compared to the control group. Using GMA, T2DM group infants had more abnormal writhing movements when compared to the other groups. Our overall findings suggest that the T1DM group had lower language scores and the T2DM group had lower visual-motor (cognitive) scores which may indicate developmental delays. Further research is needed to confirm these findings. We suggest that these infant's parents consider developmental therapy, to promote early identification and treatment of potential developmental delays. To our knowledge this study would be the first to use the combination of these assessments to evaluate 1-month-olds in this patient population. Given the small sample size, these findings should be interpreted with caution.