Neuro Developmental Consequences of Neonatal Hypoglycemia

Abstract

Neonatal hypoglycemia (HG) can cause neurologic damage, epilepsy, mental retardation, behavioral and personality disorders and death. The longest the HG lasts and the greatest the glucose nadir the consequences are more pronounced.Comorbidities are rather important in development of neurological damage. Hypoxemia and ischemia can cause permanent brain damage. Small for gestational age (SGA), large for gestational age (LGA), intrauterine growth restriction, gestational age bellow the 37th week, low Apgar score, sepsis, children whose mothers have toxemia, diabetes or chorioamnionitis are all newborns with increased HG risk.Comparing 34 patients with NH and 34 children without NH with similar GA, BW, BL, the Apgar score, we found statistically significant differences in motor and mental development using the Griffith scale. Children with neonatal HG fared significantly worse than those without neonatal HG. Therefore, CBG measurements and early recognition of neonatal HG is of significant importance in preventing motor and mental damage in children. A larger and well-balanced cohort of patients followed for a longer period is also necessary to clarify and discern in detail the importance of neonatal HG and other perinatal factors in neurodevelopmental damage.

Antenatal and perinatal factors associated with newborn behavior: A prospective cohort study

“…The literature reports cases of the birth of macrosomic neonates, which show a weaker motor system, without mentioning the presence or absence of diabetes in their mothvolume 20, issue 4, oCToBeR -DeCemBeR 2021 ers 5 . Other studies report that infants of mothers with pre-existing diabetes mellitus or gestational diabetes mellitus have lower performance on gross motor skills [6][7][8] .…”

Cellular adenylate energy charge and adenine nucleotides in brain tissue during hypoglycemia in newly born BALB/c mice pups

“…In humans, hypoglycemia compromises brain structure [7] and function [11,12] and, if severe, white matter abnormalities are observed on brain magnetic resonance imaging [13]. The parietal and occipital lobes are the most commonly affected regions [7,11,12,14]. The hypoglycemia-induced cerebral injury may be sub-clinical or presents as neurologic dysfunctions, such as irritability, neurological deficits, seizure, coma and, ultimately, neuronal death with permanent long-term neurodevelopmental impairment [8,[15][16][17].…”