These results, obtained by the  “National University of Ireland Galway”, focus on the effects of diabetes for pregnant women in Ireland. Diabetes is a chronic disease most common among pregnant women, international estimates for this disease are between 2 and 9% of all pregnancies.

Diabetes can be a serious problem for a pregnant woman, causing risks of congenital malformations of babies and neonatal mortality. For the mother, there are also risks of blood pressure and pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure of pregnancy). These women are also more often deliver by Caesarean section. Babies born to diabetic mothers often require neonatal care unit, particularly because of breathing problems. They have an increased risk of weighing more than 4kg at birth, which in oneself is a risk of developing a form of obesity and diabetes in adulthood.

Among women with diabetes before pregnancy, the study showed they were ill-prepared for motherhood, with only 28% of them receiving care before their maternity, 43% having a rate of folic acid and 29% having a correct sugar rate. In addition to diabetes known as type one and two, a pregnant woman can develop gestational diabetes, occurring after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Gestational diabetes is associated with increased risks for the child and the mother can develop diabetes type two.

Working with 10,000 women in the west of Ireland, the research program has provided surveillance of gestational diabetes in all pregnant women to determine how much they have developed the disease and its severe form of intolerance to glucose (Impaired Glucose Tolerance) . Of the 4,000 women tested, 130 (3.3%) suffered from gestational diabetes, 328 (8%) exhibited glucose intolerance and 50% had a body mass index in the overweight or the obesity.

The researchers recommend the establishment of a universal test for gestational diabetes and glucose intolerance for all pregnant women in Ireland, given the importance of these two diseases and also to allow to better identify the population at risk . They also examined the impact of obesity on single motherhood women of 1,441, for whom any form of diabetes were excluded. They showed that obesity was an independent risk factor, with more Caesareans, of tension, miscarriages and babies weighing more 4kg.