Introduction: Adults and children with diabetes mellitus have poorer bone health compared to healthy populations. Poorer bone health measured by ultrasound has been reported in infants born to mothers with gestational diabetes, however no study has examined these associations beyond infancy. Thus, we aimed to determine the association between maternal dysglycaemia during pregnancy and offspring quantitative ultrasound (QUS) bone measures in childhood.
Methods: Singleton pregnancy women (n=475) at <16 weeks gestation were recruited from the University Hospital Geelong as part of the Vitamin D in Pregnancy Study. At 28-32 weeks gestation, 379 women underwent glucose challenge tests (GCT); results ≥8.00mmol/L were considered high. At the 11-year follow-up, 189 mother-child pairs returned, where children underwent QUS using an Achilles Insight Ultrasonometer at the left calcaneus, which measured bone speed of sound (SOS) (m/s), broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) (db/MHz) and stiffness index (SI). The average of two measurements of SOS, BUA and SI were used for analysis. Linear regression models were adjusted for child birthweight, child height, weight, sex and pubertal stage at 11 years, and maternal BMI and smoking status at recruitment. Of women who had a GCT, 164 children had QUS and adjustment measurements at 11 years.
Results: Twenty-four (14.6%) women had high GCT results. There was a weak positive trend for an association between a high GCT and child BUA (β: 3.80; 95%CI: -0.36,7.96; p=0.07) and SI (β: 3.87; 95%CI: -0.77,8.51; p=0.10), however this failed to reach significance. No association was observed between a high GCT and child SOS (β: 2.17; 95%CI: -7.84,12.18; p=0.67).
Conclusion: Maternal dysglycaemia during pregnancy was weakly associated with increased child bone measures at 11 years, however this study may be underpowered. This study lays the foundation for future larger studies and to investigate whether increased bone density is associated with a decreased fracture risk.