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. 2022 Aug 16;14(16):3364.
doi: 10.3390/nu14163364.

Diet-Treated Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Is an Underestimated Risk Factor for Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes: A Swedish Population-Based Cohort Study

Inga Rós Valgeirsdóttir  1 , Ulf Hanson  2   3 , Erik Schwarcz  4 , David Simmons  3   5 , Helena Backman  1
Affiliations

Diet-Treated Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Is an Underestimated Risk Factor for Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes: A Swedish Population-Based Cohort Study

Inga Rós Valgeirsdóttir et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

In Sweden, diet-treated gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) pregnancies have been managed as low risk. The aim was to evaluate the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes among women with diet-treated GDM compared with the background population and with insulin-treated GDM. This is a population-based cohort study using national register data between 1998 and 2012, before new GDM management guidelines and diagnostic criteria in Sweden were introduced. Singleton pregnancies (n = 1,455,580) without pregestational diabetes were included. Among 14,242 (1.0%) women diagnosed with GDM, 8851 (62.1%) were treated with diet and 5391 (37.9%) with insulin. In logistic regression analysis, the risk was significantly increased in both diet- and insulin-treated groups (vs. background) for large-for-gestational-age newborns, preeclampsia, cesarean section, birth trauma and preterm delivery. The risk was higher in the insulin-treated group (vs. diet) for most outcomes, but perinatal mortality rates neither differed between treatment groups nor compared to the background population. Diet as a treatment for GDM did not normalize pregnancy outcomes. Pregnancies with diet-treated GDM should therefore not be considered as low risk. Whether changes in surveillance and treatment improve outcomes needs to be evaluated.

Keywords: diabetes in pregnancy; diet therapy; gestational diabetes; insulin; pregnancy outcomes.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Dietary advice for women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM): (a) general dietary advice; (b) the plate method.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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