Short- and long-term effects of gestational diabetes mellitus on the neonate

Pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus have both short- and long-term effects on the developing fetus. The most common short-term morbidities include macrosomia, shoulder dystocia and hypoglycemia as well as less frequently encountered risks of polycythemia, hyperbilirubinemia, hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia, immature fetal organ systems, polyhydramnios, congenital anomalies, cardiac septal hypertrophy and increased perinatal mortality. gestational diabetes mellitus not only predisposes to the immediate morbidities apparent at birth, also but may influence long-term sequelae of these infants in the areas of childhood and adult obesity, development of type 2 diabetes mellitus, and intellectual and neurological development. This paper will provide a review of these morbidities and the proposed pathophysiology related to this development.