|
Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Women with Gestational Diabetes |
|
|
|
|
Women's Health News
|
A recent study confirms that gestational Diabetes, or diabetes that develops during pregnancy significantly heightens a woman’s risk of developing type2 diabetes in the future.
One of the researchers involved in the study, Dr. Denice Feig of the University of Toronto, informed Reuters Health that due to the great risk faced by these women, they should be screened for type 2 diabetes and that preventive measures should be seriously taken.
Dr. Feig added further that proper diagnosis and treatment of type 2 diabetes are even more imperative particularly if the patient is planning to get pregnant again. This is because inadequately managed diabetes during pregnancy poses greater risks of developing fetal abnormalities and stillbirths.
Gestational diabetes has been known to cause type 2 diabetes. To be able to determine the exact level of risk posed by gestational diabetes, Feig and her team studied 633,449 women who gave birth in Toronto from 1995 to 2002. Among these women, 21,823 (3.3 percent) had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
The results of the study revealed that whereas 19 percent of the women diagnosed with gestational diabetes developed type 2 diabetes during the 9-year follow-up period only 2 percent of those who did not suffer from gestational diabetes did.
Furthermore, the researchers say that gestational diabetes was found to be the strongest risk factor for type 2 diabetes, the risk being intensified above 37 times over.
Feig observed that women who have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes can help prevent type 2 diabetes by engaging in physical Exercise and keeping their weight at a healthy level. Although these measures can also help in the prevention of gestational diabetes, other factors like Genetic predisposition or a family history of diabetes, cannot be altered.
|
|
|
