Cardiac Complications in Infants of Diabetic Mothers in NICU, A Cross Sectional Prospective Study

Background: Infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs) are more prone to develop congenital anomalies and defects than healthy non-diabetic mothers. Aim of work: To evaluate the frequency of cardiac complications in infants of diabetic mothers in our NICU unit as well as the effect of diabetes control on them. Patients and methods: This study was a cross sectional prospective study conducted at neonatal intensive care unit of pediatric department, Al-Azhar Assuit university hospital, Minia health insurance hospital and Minia university hospital between January 2021 and June 2021. The study included 60 neonates subdivided into two groups as follow: Group I (30 cases): Included infants of diabetic mother with a diagnosis of congenital heart disease. Group II (30 controls): Included normal healthy infants of diabetic mother. Results: The frequency and patterns of different cardiac malformations in neonates in group I were as follow: Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) [46%], Patent foramen ovale (PFO) [40%], hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCMP) [30%], ventricular septal defect (VSD) [20%], and atrial septal defect (ASD) [20%]. There was a statistically increase in pulmonary artery systolic pressure in group I compared to the control group (p <0.001). Conclusions: The frequency of cardiovascular anomalies in infants of diabetic mothers is significantly higher than in the infants of non-diabetic mothers. Infants of poor controlled diabetic mothers have higher incidence of cardiac complications than those in the controlled diabetic mothers.