Eye growth and development in offspring of mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) warrants closer attention, according to the authors of a population-based cross-sectional study based on the Nanjing Eye Study.

Published in Translational Vision Science and Technology,1 the study included 681 seven-year-old children, 41 of whom were born to mothers with GDM. Ocular examinations, completed in 2019, included optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and the collection of information about the pregnancy and birth history.

The offspring of mothers with GDM were found to have decreased choriocapillaris (CC) perfusion and increased vessel density (VD) of the deep vascular complex compared with controls.

The authors reported that “in generalised linear models, offspring exposed to maternal GDM had significantly increased vessel density (VD) of the deep vascular complex…) in the parafoveal temporal quadrant (difference = 1.238, P = 0.025), larger size of CC flow voids (difference = 0.134, P = 0.040), and larger area of CC flow voids (difference = 0.558, P = 0.018) compared with unexposed offspring”.

There were no significant differences between the two groups in VD of superficial vascular complex, foveal avascular zone, macular thickness, or subfoveal choroidal thickness (all P > 0.05).

Reference
1. Shen S, Zhu X, Liu H et al; Ocular microvascular changes in offspring born to mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus: The Nanjing Eye Study. Trans. Vis. Sci. Tech. 2025;14(10):36. doi: 10.1167/tvst.14.10.36.