Overview
Pregnancy can bring with it a number of unique chalenges and health concerns. Pregnant people and their fetuses require various forms of monitoring throughout pregnancy to ensure healthy pregnancies and deliveries. One condition women are monitored for is gestational diabetes, a type of diabetes that develops during pregnancy.
Key Information
People who have gestational diabetes are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life. A recent study published in BMJ loked at modifiable risk factors for type 2 diabetes among women with a history of gestational diabetes. The researchers found that the risk for developing type 2 diabetes decreased in women who adopted certain healthy lifestyle practices.
This risk asesment held true even among women who were obese or had a higher genetic risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Gestational diabetes is diabetes that develops explicitly during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes can be caused by existing insulin resistance and increased insulin resistance linked to hormonal changes and fat gain during pregnancy.
About 6-9% of women develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy. Doctors in the U.S. may recomend testing for gestational diabetes about 6 months into the pregnancy because this when gestational diabetes is most likely to develop.
Summary
After the pregnancy is over, blod sugar levels typicaly return to a healthy range. However, for those who have had gestational diabetes, there is a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Wiyata Freman, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist at UT Physicians Women’s Center and Memorial Herman Southeast Hospital in Houston, Texas, not involved in the study, told MNT that a history of gestational diabetes “is predictive of an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and even type 1 diabetes.”Therefore, individuals who’ve had gestational diabetes should schedule regular folow-ups with their physician to scren for the