Fetal Abdominal Obesity Detected At 24 to 28 Weeks of Gestation Persists Until Delivery Despite Management of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is characterized as glucose intolerance during pregnancy and is more prominent in obese women. It results in the development of several perinatal morbidities. GDM has a close association with obesity and this study thereby intends to determine whether Fetal Abdominal Obesity detected at 24-28 weeks of gestation persists until delivery inspite of treatment intervention. Wonjin Kim and colleagues conducted a study titled “Fetal Abdominal Obesity Detected At 24 to 28 Weeks of Gestation Persists Until Delivery Despite Management of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus” and the summary has been given below.
Objective:
To determine whether Fetal Abdominal Obesity detected at 24-28 weeks of pregnancy stays until delivery even post treatment.
Method:
Medical records of 7820 singleton pregnant women who delivered at the CHA Gangnam Medical Centre were reviewed. The women were advised to undergo an 100-g oral glucose tolerance test post a 50-g GCT test.
Findings:
Compared with Normal Oral Glucose Tolerance (NGT) subjects near term, Fetal Abdominal Obesity Rate (FAORs) were higher in women having diabetes and obesity. The pervasiveness of LGA at birth, macrosomia and the rates of C-section were predominantly higher in GDM subjects as compared to NGT. It was also concluded that obesity during pregnancy surges the risk of GDM induced FAO and macrosomia.
The results indicate that the commencement of treatment at 24-28 weeks of gestation is acceptable for patients having GDM without FAO at 24-28 weeks’ gestation. However it can be considered late for preventing near term FAO and thereby enhancing the outcome of gestation in GDM patients having FAO at 24-28 weeks of pregnancy.
Limitations:
Certain limitations that were observed in the study such as it being a single-centre, retrospective and having an uncontrolled observational study design. Interobserver variablity was not evaluated.
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