Publication:

Prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus in antenatal women and its associated risk factors

Background Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is an important public health problem in India and its prevalence is steadily increasing. It is one of the common complications during pregnancy affecting both maternal and fetal outcome. The increased prevalence is due to the aging population structure, urbanization, obesity epidemic and physical inactivity. Among the South Asian ethnic groups, Indian women mainly south Indians are developing GDM in highest frequency which emphasizes the significance of universal screening in South Asians. The main objective was to find out the prevalence of Gestational diabetes mellitus according to ADA criteria and to examine its association with a number of risk factors in the pregnant population.

Methods Hospital based analytical cross sectional study was conducted for 1 year among 500 antenatal women. Fasting blood glucose was measured after which they were given 75 g oral glucose and plasma glucose was estimated at 1hour and 2hour. GDM was diagnosed according to ADA criteria. Inclusion criterion was pregnant women attending outpatient department between 24-28 weeks gestation. Exclusion criteria were known diabetic women (pre gestational)/diagnosed having GDM before 24 weeks.

Results Prevalence of GDM was found to be 11.8%. Gestational diabetes mellitus was found to be significantly associated with age, BMI, past history of PCOS, family history of diabetes, excess weight gain in present pregnancy, GDM in previous pregnancy and previous poor fetal outcome.

Conclusions Prevalence of GDM is progressively increasing and it was significantly associated with multiple risk factors. Universal screening should be done for all pregnant women for better maternal and fetal outcome