Measuring and managing hyperglycemia in pregnancy: from glycosuria to continuous blood glucose monitoring

Abstract

The need to accurately detect and monitor hyperglycemia in pregnancy is becoming more apparent as the incidence of pregestational and gestational diabetes is increasing, especially among adolescents. The risk of adverse perinatal outcome is markedly worsened when pregnancy is complicated by elevated blood glucose. The appropriate management of both pregestational and gestational diabetes as it relates to blood glucose targets is clear. In the past 5 years, a number of studies have concluded that tight glycemic control throughout pregnancy significantly reduces both fetal and maternal risk. These studies have proposed blood glucose targets between 70 to 120 mg/dL. They have concluded that blood glucose levels should be the basis of moving rapidly to more effective treatments. The key to this approach is the adoption of blood glucose monitoring as an integral part of the treatment regimen. To assure sufficient data on which clinical decisions are made, the type of device, frequency of monitoring, and interpretation of results need to be carefully considered.