Cognitive Function and Army Rejection Rate in Young Adult Male Offspring of Women With Diabetes

• Published in: Diabetes care Vol. 30; no. 11; pp. 2827 - 2831
• Main Authors: Nielsen, Gunnar Lauge, Dethlefsen, Claus, Sørensen, Henrik Toft, Pedersen, Jan Fog, Molsted-Pedersen, Lars
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Diabetes Association 01.11.2007
• ISSN: 0149-5992; 1935-5548
• DOI: 10.2337/dc07-1225

Cognitive Function and Army Rejection Rate in Young Adult Male Offspring of Women With Diabetes A Danish population-based cohort study Gunnar Lauge Nielsen , MD 1 , Claus Dethlefsen , MSC, PHD 2 , Henrik Toft Sørensen , DMSC 1 , Jan Fog Pedersen , DMSC 3 and Lars Molsted-Pedersen , DMSC 4 1 Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark 2 Center for Cardiovascular Research, Aalborg Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark 3 Department of Radiology, Glostrup University Hospital, Glostrup, Denmark 4 Diabetes Centre, Department of Obstetrics, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark Address correspondence and reprint requests to Gunnar Lauge Nielsen, Aalborg Hospital, Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Forskningens Hus, Aalborg Hospital, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark. E-mail: guln{at}rn.dk Abstract OBJECTIVE —While maternal diabetes is a known risk factor for perinatal complications, there is little data on long-term intellectual outcome in offspring. We compare the rejection rate and cognitive functioning of military conscripts according to maternal diabetes status during pregnancy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS —We identified a cohort of Danish male offspring of diabetic mothers born between 1976 and 1984 and followed this cohort together with population-based control subjects to military conscription. The main outcome was army rejection rate and cognitive function measured with a validated intelligence test. RESULTS —The army rejection rate was 52.5% among 282 men whose mothers had diabetes during pregnancy and 45.4% among 870 control subjects (risk difference 7.3 [95% CI 0.6–14.0]). Mean cognitive scores were 41.4 units (95% CI 40.2–42.6) in diabetes-exposed conscripts and 42.7 units (42.0–43.4) in control subjects. Stratification by gestational age, Apgar score, and White’s class (A–F) did not change the associations. In a subgroup analysis using available data on A1C levels during pregnancy, this variable was inversely associated with cognitive functioning. In men with maternal A1C <7%, cognitive scores were identical to those in control subjects. CONCLUSIONS —The slightly higher army rejection rate in men with maternal diabetes indicates higher morbidity. The identical cognitive functioning in cases of well-controlled maternal diabetes compared with that in control subjects is reassuring, but the negative association between A1C and cognitive score highlights the importance of striving for optimal metabolic control in diabetic women who are or plan to become pregnant. IQ, intelligence quotient RD, risk difference Footnotes Published ahead of print at http://care.diabetesjournals.org on 13 August 2007. DOI: 10.2337/dc07-1225. A table elsewhere in this issue shows conventional and Système International (SI) units and conversion factors for many substances. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. Accepted August 2, 2007. Received June 28, 2007. DIABETES CARE