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Level of glucose intolerance affects offspring’s birth weight
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Women with abnormal 1-hour glucose challenge tests had higher birth weight babies than women with normal test results, according to findings presented at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting.
“Most OB-GYN practitioners only focus on women with gestational diabetes without due consideration for those women with impaired glucose tolerance,” Christopher A. Enakpene, MD, a maternal fetal medicine fellow at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told Healio Family Medicine.
“This is because there are currently no recommendations on how to manage women with only abnormal 1-hour glucose challenge tests with normal 3-hour oral glucose tolerance test or women with one abnormal value on the 3-hour oral glucose tolerance test because they are not considered to be diabetic,” Enakpene said.
Researchers retrospectively compared baseline characteristics and birth weight results of 497 women who were in one of four groups based on their gestational diabetes and glucose test statuses.
They found that women with abnormal 1-hour glucose challenge tests as well as those women with one abnormal value at the 3-hour mark had offspring with mean birth weights that were higher, but not statistically significant. In addition, patients with gestational diabetes were more likely to have cesarean delivery (OR = 2.69; 95% CI, 1.21-5.96) and have offspring admitted to the neonatal ICU (OR = 2; 95% CI, 1.01-3.99).
“We are planning to conduct an interventional study with a larger number of these patients with and without gestational diabetes and varying glucose test statuses,” Enakpene said in the interview.
“We’ll compare results among those who receive lifestyle modifications, have their random blood glucose checked in every prenatal clinic, gather HbA1c once between 32 to 34 weeks of gestation and conduct a fetal growth ultrasound close to their expected delivery date vs. those who do not receive these interventions,” Enakpene said. – by Janel Miller
Reference: Enakpene C, et al. Abnormal glucose tolerance and pregnancy outcomes in women without diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus. Presented at: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting; April 27-30, 2018; Austin, Texas.
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.