The development of gestational diabetes is almost five times more likely in women with excess weight and blood sugar, according to a study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The risk of getting gestational diabetes is greater in women who meet some of the factors that favor diabetes: hypertension, overweight and high levels of blood sugar.
The study has shown that simple control can allow to anticipate this problem and take preventive measures or make an early management of its complications.
Prevention
Gestational diabetes can be predicted up to seven years before pregnancy.The study, conducted by American experts, reveals that in women with excess weight and blood sugar, the chances of developing gestational diabetes are 4.6 times higher than in women with normal levels.
One of the most important features of this work has been to find a relationship between cardiac risk factors before pregnancy and the subsequent development of gestational diabetes.
Therefore, its main conclusion is that the cardiac risk profile in women before becoming pregnant could help doctors identify women most likely to get the disease.In this way, primary prevention measures or early management of the problem could also be applied.The work has been based on the analysis of 580 women, with data collected over 12 years.
Complications
"Gestational diabetes is the one that is recognized for the first time during pregnancy," according to the Spanish Association of Pediatrics.It can generate complications, among which are the threat of premature delivery, preeclampsia, polydramnies (excess amniotic fluid around the fetus), infections and increased fetus size.
These difficulties increase the need for a more instrumentalized or caesarean section and trauma at the time of birth.
In most cases, women who have suffered gestational diabetes return to their metabolic normality after pregnancy.However, its chances of contracting diabetes in the next two decades of life will increase up to 50%, as well as those again to suffer gestational diabetes (60%) in later pregnancies. Diagnosis and treatment of gestational diabetes
Diagnosis
The diagnosis of gestational diabetes is performed in two steps.The first is the so -called O 'Sullivan test, which consists of measuring the blood glycemia level one hour after having administered an oral overload of 50 grams of glucose.
If the result is equal to or greater than 140 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl), it is considered positive and is passed to the second test, the glycemia curve.In this, blood glucose levels are measured for three hours with 100 grams of oral glucose.These tests are carried out between the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy.
The diet is fundamental in the treatment of pregnant women with gestational diabetes: it must be balanced and consist, experts claim, in 50% carbohydrates, 30% fat and 20% protein.
Also the exercise, especially walking and swimming, which helps lower the blood glucose level.Only when it is inevitable, the use of insulin or other hypoglycemic drugs is advised: tending to lower blood glucose levels.