New guidelines for diagnosis of gestational diabetes: pathology-based impact assessment

A critical appraisal and potentially new conceptual approach to screening and diagnosis of gestational diabetes

The aim of this article was a critical appraisal of current GDM screening and diagnosis status as well as a presentation of a potentially new approach to this perinatologic and public health problem of increasing clinical significance. Medline, EMBASE and Cochrane databases were searched. Most professional organisations recommend universal screening at 24-28 weeks of gestation, while some of them state that selective screening could also be recommended. Expert opinions regarding GDM diagnosis significantly differ throughout the world. Authors call for an open and broad professional and scientific discussion and suggest a combination of screening and diagnosis procedures in a form of one-step 1-h screening method, creation of regional GDM diagnostic criteria and standardisation of outcome-based randomised control trials. They also advise introduction of a conceptually new approach, where the risk of hyperglycaemia rather than insisting on GDM diagnosis itself should be detected.

Continuous quality improvement and metabolic screening during pregnancy at primary health centres attended by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women

OBJECTIVE

To investigate associations between the provision of routine metabolic screening and follow-up in pregnancy and participation by primary health care centres in a large-scale continuous quality improvement (CQI) initiative.

DESIGN

Longitudinal analysis of 2592 audited maternal health records.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Seventy-six community-controlled or government-operated primary health care centres serving predominantly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, in urban, regional or remote locations in five Australian states and territories.

INTERVENTION

Up to four CQI cycles supported by the Audit and Best Practice for Chronic Disease Research Partnership.

MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES

Screening and follow-up for body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and diabetes in pregnancy.

RESULTS

Overall, 87.9% of women attending the participating health centres were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Women attending a health centre after it had conducted one or more CQI cycles were more likely to receive BMI, blood pressure and diabetes screening. For example, the proportion of women receiving diabetes screening at baseline (before the first CQI cycle) was 56.1%; after cycle 1 it was 63.7% (odds ratio [OR], 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0-1.6), after cycle 2, 61.6% (OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 0.9-1.7), after cycle 3, 63.7% (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1-2.6), and after cycle 4, 75.5% (OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 1.9-5.9). Diabetes screening was associated with higher self-ratings of overall organisational systems (P = 0.03), self-management support (P = 0.04) and organisational influence and integration (P = 0.01).

CONCLUSION

These findings support the value of CQI approaches that focus on systems-level issues in primary care to improve the provision of recommended pregnancy care at primary health care centres in predominantly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Investigating the effects of treatment based on single high blood glucose in gestational diabetes screening on maternal and neonatal complications

PURPOSE

To create a positive step toward achieving an efficient method for gestational diabetes treatment, the present study was carried out to compare the treatment outcomes based on single impaired blood glucose versus regular method in health care centers in Iran.

METHODS

This randomized clinical trial was carried out in Tehran/Iran between March 2012 and August 2013. Study sample consisted of mothers whose fasting blood sugar was disturbed or a disturbed blood sugar was seen in OGTT with 75 g glucose load, according to ADA standards. For each outcome, multiple logistic regressions were used to control for the effects of potential confounders. When a confounder was measured on a continuous scale (e.g., age), LOWESS (locally weighted scatter plot smoothing) algorithm was used to determine whether the effect of that variable was linear. We also used the fractional polynomial regression to determine the optimal transformation of continuous covariates.

RESULTS

The information of 189 pregnant women was used in this study; 87 in the interventional group (46 %) and 102 in the control group (54 %). Treatment based on the new protocol has very high protective effect (OR 0.25, 95 % CI 0.68-0.88) in terms of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. This difference was not seen in other outcomes including stillbirth, macrosomic newborn delivery, hypoglycemia, and hypocalcemia. The risk of neonatal hypoglycemia reduced after the 25th week of gestation (OR 0.39, 95 % CI 0.15-0.98).

CONCLUSIONS

Although the treatment of mild gestational diabetes could not significantly decrease severe neonatal outcomes, it did significantly reduce the risk of hyperbilirubinemia and its subsequent complications.