Gestational diabetes is one of the most common conditions that can occur during pregnancy. Although the symptoms generally disappear after delivery, women suffering from gestational diabetes are at an increased risk of developing postpartum diabetes in the following years. Researchers at the Helmholtz Zentrum München in Germany have now developed an accurate method of predicting the probability of developing this progressive disease following childbirth. Their findings were published online on October 19, 2015 in the journal Acta Diabetologica. The article is titled “Development of a Simple Tool to Predict the Risk of Postpartum Diabetes in Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.” For their study, the scientists from the Institute of Diabetes Research (IDF), Helmholtz Zentrum München, which is one of the partners of the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), collected data from 257 cases of gestational diabetes that occurred between 1989 and 1999 and were followed up for a period of 20 years after delivery. One hundred and ten (110) of the women observed during this period developed postpartum diabetes. In order to be able to predict in whic during this period developed postpartum diabetes. In order to be able to predict in which mother the disease would manifest itself after delivery, the team headed by Professor Anette-Gabriele Ziegler (at right in image), Director of the Institute of Diabetes Research, tested various parameters that are known to play a significant role in the genesis of the disease. “Body mass index (BMI) and genetic predisposition both play a role in our calculation, as does the question of whether the mother breast-fed her baby and whether her gestational diabetes had to be treated with insulin,” explains Meike Köhler (at left in image), first author of the study.
Login Or Register To Read Full Story
