WEDNESDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News)– Women who develop diabetes before they become pregnant are three to four times more likely than non-diabetic women to have a baby with at least one birth defect, says a U. This is the first study to identify the wide range of birth defects — such as heart defects, brain and spine defects, oral clefts, limb deficiencies, and defects of the kidneys and gastrointestinal tract — associated with pre-pregnancy diagnoses of type 1 or type 2 diabetes . Adolfo Correa, an epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said in a CDC news release. In addition, preconception care should be considered and promoted for women with pre-pregnancy obesity , which is a known risk factor for both diabetes and birth defects, Correa and colleagues recommended. While risk factors for some birth defects have been identified, the cause of most birth defects is unknown. read more

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