HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Erratum (v30,p3154) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ferrara, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ferrara, A. Social Bookmarking                What's this?

Increasing Prevalence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

A public health perspective

From the Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program of Northern California, Oakland, California

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Assiamira Ferrara, Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program of Northern California, 2000 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612. E-mail: assiamira.ferrara@kp.org

Abbreviations: GDM, gestational diabetes mellitus

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

	INTRODUCTION

 
Recent data show that gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) prevalence has increased by 10–100% in several race/ethnicity groups during the past 20 years. A true increase in the prevalence of GDM, aside from its adverse consequences for infants in the newborn period, might also reflect or contribute to the current patterns of increasing diabetes and obesity, especially in the offspring. Therefore, the public health aspects of increasing GDM need more attention.

The frequency of GDM usually reflects the frequency of type 2 diabetes in the underlying population (1,2). Established risk factors for GDM are advanced maternal age, obesity, and family history of diabetes (3). Unquestionably, there are ethnic differences in the prevalence of GDM (4–15). In the U.S., Native Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and African-American women are at higher risk for GDM than non-Hispanic white women (4–6,8–11,13–15). In Australia, GDM prevalence was found to be higher in women whose country of birth was China or India than in women whose country of birth was in Europe or Northern Africa (7). GDM prevalence was also higher in Aboriginal women than in non-Aboriginal women (12). In Europe, GDM has been found to be more common among Asian women than among European women (16). The proportion of pregnancies complicated by GDM in Asian countries has been reported to be lower than the proportion observed in Asian women living in other continents (17). In India, GDM has been found to be more common in women living in urban areas than in women living in rural areas (18).

The trend toward older maternal age (19), the epidemic of obesity (20) and . . . [Full Text of this Article]

	METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN ASSESSING TRENDS IN GDM PREVALENCE—

 

	TRENDS IN GDM PREVALENCE—

 

	WHY IS GDM INCREASING?—

 

	GDM INCREASE IS A PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN—

 

CiteULike    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				V. Anna, H. P. van der Ploeg, N. W. Cheung, R. R. Huxley, and A. E. Bauman Sociodemographic Correlates of the Increasing Trend in Prevalence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in a Large Population of Women Between 1995 and 2005 Diabetes Care, December 1, 2008; 31(12): 2288 - 2293. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. M. Dietz, K. K. Vesco, W. M. Callaghan, D. J. Bachman, F. C. Bruce, C. J. Berg, L. J. England, and M. C. Hornbrook Postpartum Screening for Diabetes After a Gestational Diabetes Mellitus-Affected Pregnancy Obstet. Gynecol., October 1, 2008; 112(4): 868 - 874. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]