Women who develop gestational diabetes--a type of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy and resolves after the baby is born--are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life. New research is finding that lifestyle changes and medications can help protect these women.
A study has analyzed metabolic health in 288 women who had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes during a pregnancy and 1,226 women who had been pregnant but had not had gestational diabetes. All the women took part in the Diabetes Prevention Program study, a randomized clinical trial were they were assigned to intensive lifestyle changes, taking the diabetes medication metformin, or taking a placebo. They had their blood glucose levels measured for 6 years. This study looked at their long-term health, about 10 years after they had enrolled in the program.
The intensive lifestyle changes included a diet and exercise program with the goal of reducing body weight by 7%. The women were encouraged to exercise moderately for 150 minutes a week.
The study found that women who had had gestational diabetes and were assigned to undergo the intensive lifestyle intervention had a 35% reduction in their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes than those received the placebo. Those who were assigned to take metformin reduced their risk by a bit over 40%. Women who had gestational diabetes and took the placebo had a 48% percent higher risk of developing diabetes compared to those who had a normal pregnancy.
This shows that medication and lifestyle changes are both effective at reducing the risk of developing diabetes 2 in women who had gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes occurs in almost 10% of pregnant women, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It occurs in women who had never been diagnosed with diabetes and may be due to hormones that interfere with insulin during pregnancy. Babies born to mothers with gestational diabetes are at risk for being too large, having low blood sugar, or being jaundiced. The condition can cause stillbirth if it is not treated.