Gestational diabetes more likely into develop type 2 diabetes

A new study has shown that, although gestational diabetes can disappear after giving birth, there is still a big risk for women it will develop into full type 2 diabetes over the next year. About half of women who suffered from gestational diabetes then go on to have type 2 diabetes over the next few months and years after the birth of their child.
The study by Quest Diagnostics, published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynaecology, which analysed the testing records of more than 900,000 pregnant women, also revealed that less a fifth of women that developed gestational diabetes returned for a diabetes checkup within the six months after the birth.
The failure to attend follow-up tests means that many new mothers are failing to help lower the risk of diabetes later in life, and the associated complications such as heart disease and kidney damage . The American Diabetes Association has recommended that testing on pregnant women is improved to identify more mild cases of diabetes than is currently being done.
Ann Albright, a diabetes specialist with the US Centres for Disease Control and Preventio, commented “It’s almost as if you got a preview … a window to the future. This is a population that really should be targeted for intervention.”
The CDC has stated that around 2 to 10 per cent of pregnant women develop gestational diabetes for the first time during pregnancy, with the potential for leading to the dangerous condition of pre-eclampsia .