ABSTRACT
In a study of 173 pregnancies in 130 diabetic mothers of White's groups B, C and D who had received long-term treatment during pregnancy, the authors found cases of diabetes – in addition to the mother – in the maternal family, in the father and his family, or in the maternal as well as paternal family in a total of 100 pregnancies (57 %). The perinatal mortality was only slightly – and not significantly – higher among infants whose families included other diabetics than the mother. This higher mortality was found only among male infants of whom there was a preponderance in pregnancies with familial diabetes, but this was also not statistically significant. Thus, the result indirectly indicates that the primary cause of the high mortality among the infants of diabetic women must be the fact that the foetus develops in a diabetic environment.