Clinical profile, outcomes, and progression to type 2 diabetes among Indian women with gestational diabetes mellitus seen at a diabetes center in south India

AIM: To describe the clinical profile, maternal and fetal outcomes, and the conversion rates to diabetes in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) seen at a tertiary care diabetes center in urban south India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinical case records of 898 women with GDM seen between 1991 and 2011 were extracted from the Diabetes Electronic Medical Records (DEMR) of a tertiary care diabetes center in Chennai, south India and their clinical profile was analyzed. Follow-up data of 174 GDM women was available. To determine the conversion rates to diabetes, oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was done in these women. Glucose tolerance status postpartum was classified based on World Health Organization (WHO) 2006 criteria. RESULTS: The mean maternal age of the women was 29 ± 4 years and mean age of gestation at first visit were 24 ± 8.4 weeks. Seventy percent of the women had a family history of diabetes. Seventy-eight percent of the women delivered full-term babies and 65% underwent a cesarean section. The average weight gain during pregnancy was 10.0 ± 4.2 kg. Macrosomia was present in 17.9% of the babies, hypoglycemia in 10.4%, congenital anomalies in 4.3%, and the neonatal mortality rate was 1.9%. Mean follow-up duration of the 174 women of whom outcome data was available was 4.5 years. Out of the 174, 101 women who were followed-up developed diabetes, of whom half developed diabetes within 5 years and over 90%, within 10 years of the delivery. CONCLUSIONS: Progression to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Indian women with GDM is rapid. There is an urgent need to develop standardized protocols for GDM care in India that can improve the maternal and fetal outcomes and help prevent future diabetes in women with GDM.