NIH study aims to pinpoint best time for gestational diabetes screening

The NIH recently launched a new study to learn more about glucose changes during pregnancy.

The study — Glycemic Observation and Metabolic Outcomes in Mothers and Offspring study (GO MOMs) — aims to improve approaches to screening, diagnosis and treatment of elevated blood glucose among pregnant patients, according to Barbara Linder, MD, PhD, project scientist for GO MOMs.

“By understanding more about glucose levels during pregnancy, we can identify potential early indicators of gestational diabetes and pinpoint the best times to screen for and treat it,” Linder, who is also program director of the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases in the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, said in a press release.

Currently, gestational diabetes is often diagnosed between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy, according to the NIH.

“By the time people are currently screened for gestational diabetes, it could be too late to avoid the long-lasting health effects,” William L. Lowe Jr., MD, professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and study chair for GO MOMs, said in the release. “We hope to recruit a diverse group of GO MOMs participants to help pinpoint key changes during pregnancy and see if there are associations with a subsequent gestational diabetes diagnosis and large size at birth for the offspring.”

Researchers aim to enroll approximately 2,150 people without diabetes who are in their first trimester of pregnancy. They will use continuous glucose monitoring technology to record participants’ blood glucose throughout their pregnancy.

The findings will build on previous NIH-funded studies, HAPO and HAPO-FUS, which showed that people who have elevated blood glucose during pregnancy are significantly more likely than those without elevated blood glucose during pregnancy to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes years later, the release said. Data from HAPO-FUS also showed that children who were born to mothers with elevated blood glucose during pregnancy were more likely to have obesity and impaired glucose metabolism 10 years later.

Northwestern University will serve as the coordinating center and a study site for GO MOMs. Other study sites include:

• Columbia University;
• Kaiser Center for Health Research, Honolulu;
• Kaiser Center for Health Research NW, Portland, Oregon;
• Magee Women’s Hospital, Pittsburgh;
• Massachusetts General Hospital;
• Tufts Medical Center, Boston;
• Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, Providence; and
• Yale University.

The study is now open for enrollment. To learn more, click here.