Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is traditionally defined as any degree of glucose intolerance with onset or first recognition during pregnancy. As hyperglycemia has an adverse impact on maternal and foetal health- treatment of GDM with lifestyle changes and medications (mainly insulin) is important. In addition to an adverse perinatal outcome, these women are also at an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in future. Studies from our group and others have shown that gestational diabetes in India is common, affecting around 9% of pregnant women.
A woman with GDM is more than 7 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes in future compared to a woman with normoglycemia pregnancy. This risk has been reported to be as high as 12-fold in some studies. Similarly, the child born to a mother with diabetes during pregnancy (whether pre-existing or developed during pregnancy) has 4 to 8-fold…
