Risk Factors for Gestational Diabetes

Pregnant women who haven’t had diabetes before, but have high blood glucose levels during pregnancy are said to possess gestational diabetes. It always appears midway through the second trimester, after the baby is conceived, but while it’s busy growing.

Gestational diabetes disappears after the birth of the baby. Once you’ve had gestational diabetes, you’re at risk for having it again during another pregnancy. In fact, once you’ve had gestational diabetes, your likelihood is that 2 in 3 that it’ll return in future pregnancies.

In addition, you’re also at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Mothers who have gestational diabetes have an almost 10-fold long-term risk of type 2 diabetes. They even have a substantially increased risk of developing prediabetes and premature disorder .

Gestational diabetes should be a warning call for any expecting mother to form lifestyle changes not just for the health of the baby but also in order that they will prevent developing these diseases after the baby is born.

Who is at risk?

Most of the risk factors for gestational diabetes are controllable. If you’re getting to have a baby, modifying a number of your lifestyle factors can help to scale back your risk. the great news is that albeit you get diagnosed with gestational diabetes, you’ll still have a healthy baby. Here are a number of risk factors:

• Obesity — with a BMI of 30 or over — losing about 20% of your body weight can reduce your risk 
• Family history of Type 2 diabetes
• If you are an older mom — age 35 or over
• If you previously delivered larger babies (between 8 lbs. 5 oz and 9 lbs. 14 oz.)
• If you have high blood pressure
• You are Hispanic, African American, Native American, South or East Asian, or of Pacific Island descent.
• If you have unhealthy cholesterol 
• In case you smoke
• If you do not get enough physical activity 
• In case you are an unhealthy eater 

Causes of Gestational Diabetes

• Although there’s no clear explanation for gestational diabetes, there are some ideas on why certain women develop it. During pregnancy, your body needs insulin in order that it can use glucose for fuel.
• When a baby develops, it gets support by the placenta. The placenta produces many various sorts of hormones, which help the baby develop, but these exact hormones also can block the action of insulin during a mother’s body.
• The cells become immune to the insulin the mother is making. Hence the blood sugars rise.
• Excess sugar can cross the placenta, causing the baby’s pancreas to form insulin to urge obviate the sugar. Since the baby is getting more energy than it must develop, the additional sugar stores itself as fat.
• This will cause “macrosomia”, aka, “a fat baby”. Macrosomia can cause shoulder issues at birth and increase a babies risk of becoming obese and developing GD afterward in life.
• In addition, babies who are born to mothers who have uncontrolled blood sugars can have dangerously low blood sugars at birth (due to the additional insulin they’re making), which may cause breathing problems.
• This is often why it’s extremely important for all mothers to urge tested and for those with gestational diabetes keep their blood sugars tightly controlled.

For further concerns related to your pregnancy, visit our Gynecology Department.