Language Impairment in Children of Mothers with Gestational Diabetes, Preeclampsia, and Preterm Delivery: Current Hypothesis and Potential Underlying Mechanisms : Language Impartment and Pregnancy Complications

Many conditions may impair or delay language development, including socioeconomic status, parent's education, or intrauterine environment. Accordingly, increasing evidence has described that pregnancy complications, including gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), preeclampsia, and preterm delivery, are associated with the offspring's impaired neurodevelopment. Since language is one of the high brain functions, alterations in this function are another sign of neurodevelopment impairment. How these maternal conditions may generate language impairment has yet to be entirely understood. However, since language development requires adequate structural formation and function/connectivity of the brain, these processes must be affected by alterations in maternal conditions. However, the underlying mechanisms of these structural alterations are largely unknown. This manuscript critically analyzes the literature focused on the risk of developing language impairment in children of mothers with GDM, preeclampsia, and preterm delivery. Furthermore, we highlight potential underlying molecular mechanisms associated with these alterations, such as neuroinflammatory and metabolic and cerebrovascular alterations.