Diabetes screening in women with prior GDM ‘suboptimal’
A third of women with a history of gestational diabetes are not tested for diabetes risk post-partum, research suggests.
One in three Australian women with prior gestational diabetes miss out on postpartum screening for type 2 diabetes, shows an analysis of primary care data.
And just half of these high-risk women had their diabetes, hyperlipidaemia and hypertension risk assessed at least once during the study period, which had 4.5 years of follow-up on average.
The researchers, led by Sydney cardiologist Professor Clara Chow, said their findings highlighted “suboptimal” management of patients with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).
They analysed records of 10,400 women (mean age 38) from 406 GP clinics to determine the post-GDM frequency of testing for diabetes risk, lipids and blood pressure.
