Prediabetes Often Undiagnosed in Women With Prior GDM

Screening linked to greater number of health visits in prior year among women with gestational diabetes
patient and a doctor in the office
patient and a doctor in the office

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), having more health visits in the previous year is associated with receiving diabetes screening, according to a study published in the Sept. 8 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Preventing Chronic Disease.

Bernice Man, M.D., from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and colleagues identified 284 women with a history of GDM who were eligible for diabetes screening using data from three cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The researchers found that 67 percent of the women with a history of GDM reported diabetes screening within the previous three years. Screened women differed from unscreened women in terms of measured body mass index category (P = 0.01) and the number of health visits in the previous year (P = 0.001), in bivariate analyses. In multivariate analysis, screening correlated with a greater number of health visits in the previous year (adjusted odds ratios, 1.91 [95 percent confidence interval, 0.71 to 5.18], 7.05, and 5.83 for one, two or three, and four or more visits, respectively, compared with no visits). Overall, 24.4 and 6.5 percent of women had undiagnosed prediabetes and undiagnosed diabetes, respectively.

"More health visits in the prior year was associated with receiving diabetes screening. Fewer opportunities for screening may delay early detection, clinical management, and prevention of diabetes," the authors write. "Prediabetes in women with a history of GDM may be underrecognized and inadequately treated."

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