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Maternal age at pregnancy and risk for gestational diabetes mellitus among Chinese women with singleton pregnancies

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International Journal of Diabetes in Developing Countries Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

Maternal age at pregnancy is one of the most important risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM); the particulars of the association vary by racial origin. Women less than 25 years old are considered to have low risk by the American Diabetes Association, but there are little data to support this among Chinese women. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship of maternal age and the incidence of GDM.

Methods

The data were drawn from a prenatal healthcare system and clinical record: 15,668 singleton pregnancies in women who had no pre-pregnancy diabetes and who became pregnant naturally. The relationships of age and GDM incidence were examined using χ2 and logistic regression models.

Results

The overall incidence of GDM was 22.72% (95% CI, 22.07–23.38). The incidence increased from 10.21% (95% CI, 8.18–12.14) in the age group of 18–22 years to 37.10% (95% CI, 33.71–40.49) in the age group of 36–49 years. The risk of GDM increased by an average of 8% for every 1 year of maternal age, and within each age group, the risk of GDM was 5% higher in primiparas than in pluriparas, in the range of age of 22 and 35 years.

Conclusions for practice

The incidence of GDM increased with maternal age. Women who got pregnant younger than 23 years had the lowest risk, followed by those who were younger than 30 years. The incidence GDM was especially high in women who were primiparas and were older than 30 years.

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Funding

The study received funding from the National Key Research and Development Program, Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (Grant Nos. 2016YFC1000500 and 2016YFC1000501). The contents of this manuscript are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Ministry of Science and Technology. The funding agents of the study played no role in its design; in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the article for publication. The researchers are independent from the funding agents, and all authors, external and internal, had full access to all study data (including statistical reports and tables) and can take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the analyses.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Peking University People’s Hospital, Beijing, China

    Yating Han

  2. Institute of Reproductive and Child Health/National Health Commission Key Laboratory of Reproductive Health, Peking University, No. 38 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China

    Mingkun Tong, Jinhui Yu, Aiguo Ren & Lei Jin

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Mingkun Tong, Jinhui Yu, Aiguo Ren & Lei Jin

  4. Tongzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Tongzhou District, Beijing, China

    Lei Jin & Wenying Meng

Authors
  1. Yating Han
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  2. Mingkun Tong
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  3. Lei Jin
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  4. Jinhui Yu
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  5. Wenying Meng
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  6. Aiguo Ren
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  7. Lei Jin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lei Jin.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed consent

The data we used for research was from regular healthcare, for which we did not need the informed consent. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Peking University (IRB00001052-18010).

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Yating Han and Mingkun Tong have equal authorship.

Significance

Previous studies have found that maternal age at pregnancy is one of the most important risk factors for GDM. Women less than 25 years old are considered to have low risk by the American Diabetes Association, but there are little data to support this among Chinese women. We explored the association between maternal age and risk for GDM in China and found: the incidence of GDM increased with maternal age at pregnancy, and the risk for GDM increased by an average of 8% for every year of maternal age between 23 and 36 years old; for Chinese women, reproduction at a younger age may reduce the incidence of GDM; for prevention GDM in China, primiparity should be encouraged at younger ages than 23 years old or at least not older than 30 years old.

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Han, Y., Tong, M., Jin, L. et al. Maternal age at pregnancy and risk for gestational diabetes mellitus among Chinese women with singleton pregnancies. Int J Diabetes Dev Ctries 41, 114–120 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-020-00859-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-020-00859-8

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