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Treatment of Diabetes Aid to Birth

Posted on: Friday, 1 July 2005, 15:01 CDT

New research shows screening and treatment for diabetes can prevent serious problems at birth.

Professor David Simmons of the Waikato Clinical School said Australian research was the first to show that aggressive treatment of diabetes in pregnancy was linked to better births. He said Waikato District Health Board was now "putting on the table" the push for universal screening.

Prof Simmons -- the immediate past president of the Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society -- said the landmark study into gestational diabetes should put to rest the clinical debate over whether all pregnant women should be screened for diabetes.

"Doctors have long debated whether babies would benefit if pregnant women were tested and treated for gestational diabetes. This study confirms we should be screening all pregnant women, not just those at high risk of diabetes," Prof Simmons said.

"This is particularly important now that the majority of pregnant women have at least one risk factor."

Diabetes risk factors include age, weight and ethnicity. He said the high percentage of pregnant women who had at least one risk factor which could lead to diabetes meant blanket screening made sense. "All pregnant women should be screened, monitored and treated appropriately."

Prof Simmons, one of the people who helped prepare the screening guidelines for New Zealand and Australia, said the risk to babies of diabetes in pregnancy was now clear following the Australian Carbohydrate Intolerance Study in Pregnant Women.

The study showed that although complications were uncommon, they were four times lower among babies of mothers who were aggressively treated.

Complications included babies' shoulders becoming stuck on delivery, bone fractures and nerve damage.

Five babies died in the control group, while none died in the group of women receiving treatment. Women receiving treatment controlled their blood sugar through diet and with insulin where needed.

Gestational diabetes affects four to eight per cent of pregnant women in New Zealand and has risen with an increase in obesity.

While the diabetes usually disappears again, it can linger in some women. And of those, two-thirds will go on to develop diabetes.

Earlier this month it was announced that the Waikato DHB would be part of a pilot programme to offer all pregnant women a blood test for HIV as part of a national screening programme.

Source: Waikato Times

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