Women who fail gestational diabetes test at risk of adult-onset diabetes

Washington, July 8 (ANI): Women, who fail a test to diagnose gestational diabetes, are more prone to Type II adult-onset diabetes, revealed a new Tel Aviv University study.

Gestational diabetes is a temporary condition, which can harm both mother and child if left untreated Dr. Gabriel Chodick of Tel Aviv University's Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine has proven that women who "fail" the glucose challenge test, a series of four blood tests conducted over a single four-hour period, have a higher chance of developing adult onset diabetes later in life.

In his latest research, Chodick found that nearly half the women who fail all four of the four-part tests, demonstrating an elevated blood sugar level, developed Type II diabetes within ten years.

"While doctors take this into consideration, there usually isn't close follow-up in the clinical setting," said Chodick.

He said that women in the highest risk group (those who fail all four of the tests) should be given special counselling and intervention to prevent the onset of diabetes, which can greatly diminish quality of life and lead to adverse effects including heart disease, blindness and liver cancer.

In the retrospective study, Chodick and colleagues collected data on more than 185,000 women in Israel who took the glucose challenge test, then acquired information from the health registry as to what percentage of these women contracted diabetes later in life.

The researchers ascertained that women who failed all four glucose challenge blood tests had a nearly 50 percent chance of developing Type II diabetes within the ten years following the test.

Those who failed three of the four tests had a 20 percent overall chance of developing the disease within the same period.

"This is the first-ever study to show the long-term health of those who failed the glucose challenge test," said Chodick.

The study has been published in the journal Diabetic Medicine. (ANI)