Gestational Diabetes Diagnosed by a Simple Blood Test

In the future, more women around the world will be diagnosed with gestational diabetes during pregnancy, and the diagnosis will be made with a simple blood test instead of the glucose tolerance test.

The diagnosis has conventionally been made using a fasting plasma glucose level test or an oral glucose tolerance test. This involves drinking a solution of 100 g glucose and undergoing four blood tests. A study was carried out in 10 countries around the world over seven years indicated that the maximum glucose standard should be lowered.

"Until now, a result of less than 95 mg per dl was considered normal,” said Prof. Moshe Hod, head of the maternal and fetal medicine unit at the Rabin Medical Center--Beilinson Campus (Petah Tiqva, Israel). He thinks, that on the basis of the study, the maximum glucose standard should be lowered, to about 90.

The countries outside Israel and the United States where the study was conducted included the United Kingdom, Thailand, Barbados, Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The number of fetuses oversized for fetal age, the number of Cesarean sections, the weight of the babies at birth, the number suffering from overweight, and the babies' glucose and insulin levels after birth were all compared with their mother's glucose levels.

The higher the pregnant woman's blood glucose level, the greater the risk was to her infant, whether she herself had diabetes or not, according to the investigators. Women with gestational diabetes are treated with diets that restrict simple carbohydrates and include high-fiber foods in frequent, small meals. They sometimes were instructed to inject insulin or to take oral medications to reduce blood sugar levels.

Prof. Hod reported that in the near future, more women worldwide would be diagnosed with gestational diabetes during pregnancy. This will be accompanied by major benefits to infants and savings to health systems around the world. "A baby who is overweight at birth is liable to suffer just as much as an adult from metabolic syndrome including diabetes, hypertension, and high blood cholesterol,” he added. "Thanks to this research, healthy babies will be born and grow into healthy adults, and pregnancies will be safer.”


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