GESTATIONAL DIABETES MELLITUS

STILL A GREAT PROBLEM

Abstract

Objectives: The present study was designed to find the importance of proper
screening and early diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus. Study Design: A prospective/
descriptive study Place of Study: tertiary care hospital Hyderabad. Duration of Study: from
September 2014 to November 2014. Materials and Methods: A total of 168 pregnant females
between the ages of 20-40 years & in their 24th to 28th week of gestation were enrolled for the
study. Oral Glucose Tolerance Test of all the participants was done after an overnight fasting of
10-12 hours. All the participants were given 75gm of glucose per 100 ml of distilled water. The
blood samples were collected after two hours time for serum glucose levels. Results: Most
of the participants were below 26 years of age 47(27.9%) with the mean age of 30.2±5.83
years. However the highest prevalence of GDM was observed in age group 31-35 years (36%).
Among the 25 cases of gestational diabetes mellitus the highest number of patients with GDM
were multipara (40%) followed by parity of 3-4 gravida (32%). Twenty seven women (16%)
women had family history of diabetes mellitus. Among these 12/27 (44.4%) women were found
with GDM, compared to 15/141 (10.6%) who have no family history of diabetes mellitus. Total
14 (8.33%) women were found obese, out of these 8 (57%) women had GDM while only 6
(42.8%) women had no GDM. Conclusion: The prevalence of GDM in the present study is
found to be 14.8%. A prevalence of GDM was higher in the elderly multiparous females who
were overweight and had family history of diabetes mellitus.