The US study also claims they are more likely to develop these problems if born into a poor or lower-middle-class household.
Researchers found that six-year-olds whose mothers received a diabetes diagnosis during pregnancy were twice as likely to suffer symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at age six.
Living in a family with below-average socio-economic status also doubled the risk of ADHD in six-year-olds, they found.
Children with both risk factors were 14 times as likely to have ADHD, compared to children with neither risk factor, according to the results.
Yoko Nomura, PhD, lead author of the study, said that a mother-to-be should be aware that ‘gestational diabetes can affect her fetus’.
She added: ‘When babies are born into higher socioeconomic status households, they have better access to medical care [and] remedial activities, intellectual stimulus is higher, they have better foods.’
Gestational diabetes usually develops during the second or third trimester of pregnancy – the same period in which a fetus undergoes a burst of brain development.
Women with gestational diabetes suffer from abnormally high blood sugar levels.
The researchers say that if the fetus is bombarded with excess blood sugar, energy normally used for nervous-system development could be used to absorb the excess.
As a result, the central nervous system may not develop properly.
The study is in the
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine – a peer reviewed journal, published by the American Medical Association.
