Whether pregnant women with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus have an increased risk of spontaneous abortion is controversial. To address this question, we enrolled 386 women with insulin-dependent diabetes and 432 women without diabetes before or within 21 days after conception and followed both groups prospectively. Sixty-two diabetic women (16.1 percent) and 70 control women (16.2 percent) had pregnancy losses (odds ratio, 0.99; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.67 to 1.46). After adjustment for known risk factors for spontaneous abortion, the rate was still not significantly higher in the diabetic group (odds ratio, 0.91; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.59 to 1.40). Nonetheless, among the diabetic women, most of whom had good metabolic control, those who had spontaneous abortions had higher fasting and postprandial glucose levels in the first trimester than those whose pregnancies continued to delivery (P = 0.01 for fasting glucose levels and P = 0.005 for postprandial levels). In the small subgroup of diabetic women with poor control, who had elevated values for glycosylated hemoglobin in the first trimester, each increase of 1 SD above the normal range was associated with an increase of 3.1 percent in the rate of pregnancy loss (95 percent confidence interval, 0.6 to 5.6). We conclude that diabetic women with good metabolic control are no more likely than nondiabetic women to lose a pregnancy, but that diabetic women with elevated blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin levels in the first trimester have a significantly increased risk of having a spontaneous abortion.

The risk for progression of diabetic retinopathy was increased by initial glycosylated hemoglobin elevations as low as 6 SD above the control mean. This increased risk may be due to suboptimal control itself or to the rapid improvement in metabolic control that occurred in early pregnancy. Excellent metabolic control before conception may be required to avoid this increase in risk. Those with moderate-to-severe retinopathy at conception need more careful ophthalmic monitoring, particularly if their diabetes was suboptimally controlled at conception.

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The goal of this study was to evaluate a program of resistance weight training on cardiovascular risk factors, blood glucose management, and overall strength in diabetic subjects. A randomized crossover design was performed on eight male type I (insulin-dependent) diabetic subjects (mean +/- SD age 31 +/- 3.5 yr, height 176 +/- 5.6 cm, body wt 80 +/- 15 kg, duration of diabetes 12.3 +/- 9.8 yr, and insulin dose 24 U NPH/day and 21 U regular/day). The program consisted of heavy-resistance weight training 3 days/wk for 10 wk, concentrating on the strengthening of major muscle groups through progressive resistance. Blood tests included total cholesterol, triglycerides, very-low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and HbA1c. These tests were repeated at three time points during the program. Field-strength testing was performed before and after training. An improvement was seen in the squat (93.6% increase, P less than 0.0001) and bench press (58% increase, P less than 0.005). HbA1c and triglyceride levels showed no change during the resting portion of the experiment but showed a significant change with the training program: HbA1c 6.9 +/- 1.4 vs 5.8 +/- 0.9% (P = 0.05) and triglyceride 5.044 +/- 1.06 vs. 4.628 +/- 0.88 mM (P = 0.01). Self-monitored glucose (taken pre- and postexercise) showed a decrease from 7.85 +/- 3.13 to 7.05 +/- 2.91 mM (P = 0.0001). Very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides did not change after training. Analysis of variance showed no significant differences over time from the three time points with regard to reductions in cardiovascular risk factors or HbA1c.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)