Science / Medicine : Miscarriage and Diabetes

Pregnant women with diabetes can reduce their high risk of miscarriage by keeping their blood sugar levels under control, a federal study shows. The study tried to settle a long debate over whether diabetes increases a woman’s risk of miscarriage.

It found that the higher the blood sugar level in diabetic women, the higher the risk of miscarriage. However, women who keep their sugar levels in the normal range have no higher risk than women without diabetes.

“Diabetic women can be reassured that if they achieve reasonably good metabolic control during pregnancy,” the researchers wrote, “their risk of spontaneous abortion is no higher than that among non-diabetic women.”

The study was based on a comparison of 386 pregnant women who took insulin for diabetes and 432 without diabetes. Overall, 16% of the women in both groups had pregnancy losses. However, blood sugar levels were higher in the diabetic women who had miscarriages. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was directed by Dr. James L. Mills of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.