Month: October 2014

Daughters of women with high blood sugar during pregnancy may be more likely to become overweight as children, a new study finds. The risk was especially strong if the mothers developed gestational diabetes while they were pregnant. This form of diabetes goes away after childbirth. The study included 421 girls. They were 6 to 8 years old when the study began. Researchers kept track of them for about 6 years. They also looked at medical records of the girls’ mothers. During pregnancy, 27 mothers developed gestational diabetes. Their daughters were 3.5 times as likely to become overweight during childhood as those whose mothers had normal blood sugar. Their risk increased to 5.5 times normal if their mothers also had been overweight before pregnancy. The daughters of women with gestational diabetes also were more likely to have large waists or more body fat.

Most colleges say they can manage care for students with long-term medical conditions, a new study finds. But they often don’t know who those students are. About 20% of college students have a chronic (long-term) condition. The new study was based on a survey. It included medical directors for 200 U.S. colleges. They were chosen to represent all 4-year colleges. About 83% of the colleges said they could manage a student’s asthma. About 69% said they could manage depression. Just over half thought they could manage diabetes. But only 42% had a system in place to find out which students had these conditions. About 31% of the colleges reviewed medical records and created registries of students with chronic conditions. Depending on the condition, up to 25% of schools contacted new students with these conditions to schedule an appointment.