Screening for diabetes in pregnancy is crucial since gestational diabetes can result in a serious pregnancy complication, if undetected. Equally it is important for those women who had tested positive for gestational diabetes, to be screened for diabetes after they have given birth. However, according to a recent study, there is a lacuna in the required testing here.
A study that examined as many as one million patient records found that 5% of women had gestational diabetes, but that only one in five women were screened for diabetes six months after giving birth.
It was found by the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) trial that even small defects in the mother’s metabolism of glucose could result in health problems for the mother and child.
Further, women have had gestational diabetes are at heightened risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life which makes this screening even more crucial.
It is currently recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Diabetes Association that women have to be tested for diabetes 6 to 12 weeks after giving birth, if they had had pregnancy related diabetes. The test usually administered, is a simple 100 gram oral glucose tolerance test; however it is now recommended that the 75-gram oral glucose tolerance test be administered.
Screening for diabetes is important during pregnancy to detect Gestational diabetes, which is diagnosis of diabetes during pregnancy, even if diabetes was present before pregnancy, but was undiagnosed. Screening is must for high risk pregnant women.
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