Women Who Develop Diabetes Later in Life Have Diabetes-Associated Complications during Preceding Pregnancies ()
ABSTRACT
Aims: The aim of this study was to explore
the outcome of previous pregnancies in women who later developed diabetes.
Method: A Swedish population based cohort of 23,524 women from 1990 aged 45 -
85 yr in 2000 when they self reported health status in a questionnaire. To
identify which women who delivered we matched it towards the Swedish Medical
Birth Register (SMBR). We identified 14,856 women who appeared in both
registers and a total of 30,559 new birth registrations. Among these women 216
had developed diabetes after their pregnancy (ies) and additional twelve women
were reported to have gestational diabetes in SMBR. These 228 women and their
455 pregnancies were compared with women without diabetes. Results: Women who
developed diabetes later in life were already heavier before the pregnancy
(ies) (69.2 ± 13.9 vs. 63.2 ± 10.3 kg; p < 0.001) but had less weight gain
during pregnancy (13.3 ± 5.4 vs. 14.1 ± 4.6 kg; p = 0.03) compared to women
without diabetes. Newborns to women with diabetes diagnosed any time after
pregnancy had higher birth weight (3602 vs. 3507 g; p < 0.001), were more
often large for gestational age (10.5% vs. 3.1%; p < 0.001), were more often
delivered by caesarean section (4.8% vs. 2.7%; p = 0.005) and had lower Apgar
scores. Conclusion: Women who developed diabetes after pregnancy had
hyperglycaemia-associated complications during their pregnancy (ies). We therefore
postulated that women with Type 2 diabetes are mainly recruited from women with
earlier GDM. A general screening for GDM should identify these women and enable
life style intervention that may prevent or at least delay diabetes.
Share and Cite:
Moll, U. , Olsson, H. and Landin-Olsson, M. (2014) Women Who Develop Diabetes Later in Life Have Diabetes-Associated Complications during Preceding Pregnancies.
Journal of Diabetes Mellitus,
4, 341-349. doi:
10.4236/jdm.2014.44047.