Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

It has been found by earlier research that those women who develop diabetes in pregnancy (gestational diabetes mellitus or GDM) are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes (lifestyle related diabetes) after the birth of their child.

For this reason, it is important to be able to predict if a woman will develop gestational diabetes.

This can be predicted to an extent, based on the woman’s metabolic status before she gets pregnant, reports a study published in the American Journal Epidemiology.

Metabolic screening could help prevent gestational diabetes, according to the study, which found that cardio metabolic problems were a predictor of GDM.

27% of women, who had such cardio metabolic problems, went on to develop GDM. For this reason the researchers are recommending that women should discuss with their doctor, the need for undergoing metabolic screening before getting pregnant.

Getting care before conception and screening for metabolic abnormalities before conception, rather than during pregnancy, has been recommended as a result of this study. According to Erica P. Gunderson, lead author of the study, this could be beneficial for the baby as well since “screening and treatment of metabolic risk factors before pregnancy to prevent GDM may help reduce its lasting adverse health effects on children.”