HYPERTENSIVE DISORDERS IN GESTATIONAL DIABETES MELLITUS

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is defined as carbohydrate intolerance occurring or detected for the first time during pregnancy. Hypertension occurring as a result of pregnancy is called pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), which is itself divided into two groups: gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia. The aim of this study is to compare the incidence of hypertensive disorders in patients with GDM and controls. This is a case-control study of 2416 pregnant women attending 5 antenatal clinics attached to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The universal two-step screening approach was used: first, all women underwent a 50-gram 1-hour glucose challenge test; second, all women with a 1-hour blood glucose concentration higher than 130mg/dl underwent a 100-gram, 3 hour oral glucose tolerance test. Carpenter and Coustan’s criteria were used to diagnose GDM. 220 women with a normal glucose challenge test were chosen as controls. GDM cases and controls were matched for age, body mass index, parity, and gestational age. 114 women overall were diagnosed with GDM. Mean age, BMI, and parity in GDM and control groups were 29.09±6.13 and 28.64±6.00 years, 27.43±4.33 and 26.64±1.8 kg/m2, and 1.79 and 1.52 births, respectively. Women with GDM had a higher prevalence of essential hypertension, PIH, and pre-eclampsia than matched controls. Our results show that hypertensive disorders are more common in women with GDM than in normoglycaemic controls of similar age, parity and BMI.