Excretion of corticosteroids by infants of diabetic and pre-diabetic mothers

Abstract

The urinary excretion of individually estimated neutral steroids on days 1, 2, 3, and 6, from 8 infants born to diabetic mothers, and from 6 infants born to pre-diabetic mothers, has been compared with the excretion of these compounds by full-term and by premature infants born to non-diabetic mothers. The results suggest that infants born to women with diabetes show adrenocortical activity that is greater than that of control infants. This is manifest in an increased excretion of blue tetrazoliumreducing corticosteroids of all ranges of polarity. This increased excretion of corticosteroids shown by the infants of diabetic mothers is not attributable to their relative prematurity nor to clinically detectable stress. While differences in the excretion of corticosteroids between infants of diabetic mothers and control infants have been essentially quantitative, more subtle qualitative differences have also been detected, but these defy interpretation in the present state of knowledge.