Prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus in Rafsanjan: a comparison of different criteria

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is common during pregnancy. This survey was designed based on the frequency of GDM among an urban population according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) criteria. Methods: We included all pregnant women who were admitted to a gynecology clinic from September 2012 until May 2013. The fasting blood sugar (FBS) was measured. Those having FBS≥ 126 mg/dl were excluded from the study. All women underwent a standard OGTT (oral glucose tolerance test) by ingesting 75g of glucose in the 24th to 32nd week of their pregnancy. Results: Two hundred ninety pregnant women with a mean±SD age of 27.72±5.091 years were included in the study. The mean±SD FBS, blood glucose one hour and two hours after ingesting 75g of glucose were 82.48±9.41, 146.86±34.22 and 114.21±27.79 mg/ dl, respectively. Based on the criteria of the ADA, 9.3% (n= 27) of the admitted patients suffered from GDM. For the IADPSG and the WHO, those numbers were 31% (n= 90) and 15.2% (n= 44), respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of GDM was 1.5-times and 3 times higher when the IADPSG based data were compared to those of the WHO or the ADA.