Indigenous women with gestational diabetes or type 2 diabetes during pregnancy are at increased risk of post-partum haemorrhage, an Australian study has shown for the first time.

The findings suggest clinicians should take gestational diabetes (GDM) in an Indigenous woman as a sign to be ready to manage the third stage of labour to minimise post-partum blood loss, the authors say.

“Indigenous women are more than four times as likely to die as a direct result of pregnancy and childbirth than non-Indigenous women, with obstetric haemorrhage a leading cause,” they note in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Data from 1102 women (525 Indigenous) with singleton pregnancies in the prospective Pregnancy And Neonatal Diabetes Outcomes in Remote Australia (PANDORA) study was used in the analysis.