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Review
. 2018 Oct 11;10(10):1479.
doi: 10.3390/nu10101479.

Screening and Management of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus after Bariatric Surgery

Katrien Benhalima  1 , Caro Minschart  2 , Dries Ceulemans  3 , Annick Bogaerts  4   5   6 , Bart Van Der Schueren  7   8 , Chantal Mathieu  9 , Roland Devlieger  10
Affiliations
Review

Screening and Management of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus after Bariatric Surgery

Katrien Benhalima et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a frequent medical complication during pregnancy. This is partly due to the increasing prevalence of obesity in women of childbearing age. Since bariatric surgery is currently the most successful way to achieve maintained weight loss, increasing numbers of obese women of childbearing age receive bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery performed before pregnancy significantly reduces the risk to develop GDM but the risk is generally still higher compared to normal weight pregnant women. Women after bariatric surgery therefore still require screening for GDM. However, screening for GDM is challenging in pregnant women after bariatric surgery. The standard screening tests such as an oral glucose tolerance test are often not well tolerated and wide variations in glucose excursions make the diagnosis difficult. Capillary blood glucose measurements may currently be the most acceptable alternative for screening in pregnancy after bariatric surgery. In addition, pregnant women after bariatric surgery have an increased risk for small neonates and need careful nutritional and foetal monitoring. In this review, we address the risk to develop GDM after bariatric surgery, the challenges to screen for GDM and the management of women with GDM after bariatric surgery.

Keywords: bariatric surgery; gestational diabetes mellitus; obesity; pregnancy; screening.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A pragmatic proposal for the evaluation of dysglycaemia in pregnant women after bariatric surgery. GDM: gestational diabetes mellitus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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