CHEMICAL HOMEOSTASIS IN THE NEWBORN INFANTS OF DIABETIC MOTHERS

[摘要] With the increased incidence of diabetic women reaching the child-bearing ages and their fertility being improved as a result of the use of insulin, there will be an increase in the number of newborn infants of diabetic mothers. Except for better control of diabetes in the mother there is no known method to reduce the infant mortality rate, which remains very high, approximately 30%. Likewise there is at present no completely adequate explanation for this poor prognosis. The present study of the blood electrolyte balance was undertaken to elucidate certain points in the physiology of the newborn infant of a diabetic mother. The 11 infants studied had extremely variable plasma chloride and total base levels and a high proportion of these had an uncompensated acidosis with a lowered blood pH when compared to the normal newborn infant. The high plasma CO2 tension indicates that ventilatory control of this factor was lacking, whether the fault be central or pulmonary. Furthermore, there appears to be a direct correlation between the degree of acidosis and the severity of the abnormal clinical picture present. The exact cause of this acidosis is not at present clear.

[学科分类] 儿科学