Background: Previous studies conducted among women diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GDM) on the basis of IADPSG criteria at the standard time of 24-28 weeks have found that 1-5% will have diabetes on testing shortly after pregnancy, and 15-40% will have any form of dysglycaemia. There are little data as to whether women with early GDM are more likely or not to have postpartum dysglycaemia. The aim of this substudy of the Treatment of Booking Gestational Diabetes (TOBOGM) randomised controlled trial (RCT)1, is to evaluate the incidence and predictors of postpartum dysglycaemia among women who develop early GDM.
Research and Design Methods: The TOBOGM Study was a RCT of early or delayed treatment for women diagnosed with early GDM. Participants were diagnosed with GDM prior to 20 weeks gestation, on the basis of the IADPSG criteria for GDM. Those with a fasting glucose ≥6.1 mmol/L and/or 2-hour glucose ≥11.1 mmol/L were excluded. Participants in the study were recommended to have an oral glucose tolerance test (oGTT) 6-12 weeks postpartum. oGTT results were categorised as normal, diabetes, impaired fasting glucose (IFG, fasting glucose 6.1-6.9 mmol/L), and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT, 2 hour glucose 7.8-11.0 mmol/L). Multivariate analysis was conducted by backwards stepwise logistic regression to determine independent predictors of abnormal postpartum glucose tolerance.
Results: Three hundred and fifty two of 793 participants in the TOBOGM Study underwent a postpartum oGTT. There were 63 (18%) participants with postpartum dysglycaemia: 11 (3.1%) with diabetes, 2 (0.6%) with IFG, 48 (13.6%) with IGT, and 2 (0.6%) with combined IFG and IGT. Women who had abnormal postpartum glucose tolerance were more likely to have had previous GDM, be a smoker, have lower BMI, greater gestational weight gain, and have higher glucose values on the early pregnancy oGTT. On multivariate analysis, which included baseline and pregnancy variables, higher 2-hour glucose level at the early pregnancy oGTT (OR 1.59, 95%CI 1.26-2.00, p<0.01), previous GDM (OR 2.30, 95%CI 1.10-4.77, p=0.03) and gestational weight gain (OR 1.07, 95%CI 1.01-1.13, p=0.02) were the factors which were independently associated with abnormal postpartum glucose tolerance.
Conclusion: The incidence of postpartum dysglycaemia among women with early GDM (excluding those with overt diabetes) in the TOBOGM Study is similar to that observed in follow up studies where women were primarily diagnosed with GDM at 24-28 weeks gestation.