Evaluation of insulin antibodies and placental transfer of insulin aspart in pregnant women with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

To the Editor: The relevance of insulin antibodies to neonatal outcome in pregnant women with diabetes remains unclear [1–3]. In one study of 138 pregnant women with type 1 diabetes, insulin antibodies were detected in the cord blood of 95% of the offspring at birth [3]. However, there was no evidence that insulin antibodies caused the transfer of insulin across the placental barrier or influenced birthweight. To date, no study has investigated insulin antibody levels in pregnant women with type 1 diabetes treated with an insulin analogue. In a recent randomised controlled trial we showed that prandial insulin aspart (IAsp), a rapid-acting insulin analogue, was as effective and well tolerated as soluble human insulin (HI) in pregnant women with type 1 diabetes [4, 5]. The aim of the present study was to assess maternal and cord blood insulin antibody levels in a subset of 97 women who participated in the trial [4, 5]. The evaluation was described in a post-initiation protocol amendment.