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Gestational diabetes: relevance of diagnostic criteria and preventive strategies for Type 2 diabetes mellitus

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Abstract

Objective

Women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are at risk to develop Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). The aim of this study was to compare the effect of three international diagnostic criteria on the prevalence of GDM with its implications for prevention of DM2 in the population.

Materials and methods

One thousand one hundred and seventy-two pregnant women, who underwent the 75-g oral glucose tolerance test for routine, antenatal GDM screening, were classified using the criteria of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society (ADIPS). The population-attributable risk, (PAR) was used to estimate the proportion of women with DM2 in the community, who may have been identified much in advance for intervention, by a GDM pregnancy.

Results

Using the ADA, WHO and ADPIS criteria, respectively: (a) the prevalence of GDM was 166 (14.2%), 242 (20.6%) and 271 (23.1%) (p < 0.0001); (b) The PAR (95% CI) was 42% (31–52%); 51% (39–62%) and 54% (42–64%). Overall, by all three criteria, 132 (11.3%) women had GDM while 859 (73.3%) were without GDM; the remaining 181 (15.4%) women had classification differences between them.

Conclusion

The universal acceptance and the ability of the WHO criteria to detect over half the women with DM2 earlier during pregnancy, makes it ideally suited to identify women with GDM.

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Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Ms. A. Matera for help with data collection and data entry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, UAE University, P.O. Box 17666, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

    Mukesh M. Agarwal

  2. Department of Pathology, Tawam Hospital, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

    Gurdeep S. Dhatt

  3. Department of Preventive Medicine, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

    Reem Zayed

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Al Ain Hospital, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

    Namita Bali

Authors
  1. Mukesh M. Agarwal
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  2. Gurdeep S. Dhatt
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  3. Reem Zayed
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  4. Namita Bali
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Correspondence to Mukesh M. Agarwal.

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Agarwal, M.M., Dhatt, G.S., Zayed, R. et al. Gestational diabetes: relevance of diagnostic criteria and preventive strategies for Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Arch Gynecol Obstet 276, 237–243 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-007-0334-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-007-0334-4

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