Prevalence and trends of gestational diabetes in a large university hospital in Lebanon before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is increasing worldwide in parallel with obesity, maternal age, improved screening methods and wider screening coverage. The objective of our study was to determine the prevalence of GDM in Lebanon and to evaluate its risk factors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Records of 2595 pregnant women who gave birth at the Hôtel-Dieu de France Hospital in Beirut, were collected retrospectively from 2018 to 2022. GDM was determined by documentation in the maternity fileward. A univariate analysis was performed to assess the factors affecting GDM. The χ² test, Fisher's exact test, independent samples T-test, and ANOVA were used for this purpose. RESULTS: The mean age was 32.03 years (± 4.75). The mean BMI at the beginning of pregnancy was 24.86 kg/m² (± 8.99), and the mean gestational weight gain (GWG) was 12.17 kg (± 5.06). The overall prevalence of GDM was 4.1%, increasing significantly from 2.9% to 6.4% between 2018 and 2022 (p value = 0.007). The peak in 2020 was temporally associated with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the compounding socioeconomic crises. The risk factors associated with GDM included older age (p = 0.003) and obesity (p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: The increasing trend of GDM incidence emphasizes the importance of implementing evidence-based prevention, diagnostic, and treatment strategies.