One hundred twenty-nine children born to 56 diabetic mothers in Buffalo Children’s Hospital (New York, U.S.A.) were analyzed for the incidence of congenital abnormality. Three of the 25 stillborns (12%), six of the sixteen babies who died during the neonatal period (37.5%) and 7 of the 88 children who survived the neonatal period (7.95%) had congenital abnormalities.

An additional 7 cases of congenital abnormality were found during the follow-up, increasing the incidence of anomaly in surviving children born to diabetic mothers from 7.9% to 15.9%. In total, in the Buffalo group 23 of the 129 (17.8%) children born to diabetic mothers were found to have congenital abnormalities as compared to only 1.4% in the control group.

The incidence of congenital abnormalities at birth was found to be 5 out of 44 cases (11.4%) in a group of babies born to diabetic mothers at Hacettepe University Hospital (Ankara) as compared to 1.2% for the control group.

The relationship between congenital anomalies and complications of pregnancy, severity of diabetes and effects of insulin and other medicine on congenital anomalies were discussed.

Keywords: congenital malformation, diabetes mellitus, maternal diabetes mellitus, newborn