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Risk Factors for Gestational Diabetes: from an Epidemiological Standpoint

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Book cover Gestational Diabetes During and After Pregnancy

Abstract

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a common pregnancy complication, continues to be a significant public health and clinical problem, as it carries significant short-term and long-term adverse health outcomes for both mothers and offspring. Moreover, accumulating evidence from in vivo and animal studies demonstrate that maternal hyperglycemia impairs embryogenesis as early as the pre-implantation stages of development. Collectively, these data highlight the significance of understanding risk factors for GDM and preventing GDM among high-risk populations. This chapter summarizes well-characterized risk factors for GDM and reviews major methodological concerns on available epidemiological studies of GDM risk factors. Moreover, this chapter provides a comprehensive review of emerging novel modifiable risk factors that may contribute to the early prevention of GDM. The majority of women with GDM have β-cell dysfunction against a background of chronic insulin resistance to which the insulin resistance of pregnancy is partially additive. Factors that contribute to insulin resistance before pregnancy may also have a deleterious effect during pregnancy, and may constitute risk factors for GDM. Therefore, this chapter reviews risk factors of GDM important in the time window both before and during pregnancy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, USA

    Cuilin Zhang

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  1. Cuilin Zhang
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Correspondence to Cuilin Zhang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Catherine Kim

  2. Kaiser Permanente, Division of Research Clinics Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, California, USA

    Assiamira Ferrara

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Zhang, C. (2010). Risk Factors for Gestational Diabetes: from an Epidemiological Standpoint. In: Kim, C., Ferrara, A. (eds) Gestational Diabetes During and After Pregnancy. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-120-0_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-120-0_5

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