Type 2 diabetes risk lower if GDM does not recur

NOT all women who develop gestational diabetes (GDM) are at high risk of developing  type 2 diabetes, according to a Canadian study which is challenging previous research.

Researchers identified more than 16,000 women in Ontario who had GDM during their first pregnancy.

About 16% developed type 2 diabetes over the next 4.5 years.

Those who did not develop GDM in subsequent pregnancies had a 66% lower risk of developing future type 2 diabetes than those who did have GDM.

Women who had GDM and then one subsequent pregnancy not complicated by the disease had only a 9% risk of diabetes, and those with two or more subsequent non-GDM pregnancies had only a 5.8% risk.

“In women with a history of gestational diabetes, the glucose tolerance status in a subsequent pregnancy may provide an updated assessment of future diabetic risk potential,” the authors said.

Dr Alison Nankervis, president of the Australasian