Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2022 Aug 30;22(1):668.
doi: 10.1186/s12884-022-04972-w.

Lifestyle intervention in early pregnancy can prevent gestational diabetes in high-risk pregnant women in the UAE: a randomized controlled trial

Amena Sadiya  1 , Vidya Jakapure  2 , Ghida Shaar  3 , Rama Adnan  3 , Yohannes Tesfa  3
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Lifestyle intervention in early pregnancy can prevent gestational diabetes in high-risk pregnant women in the UAE: a randomized controlled trial

Amena Sadiya et al. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. .

Abstract

Purpose: A prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is approximately three times higher than the global rate in the UAE. However, it has not yet been studied whether a 12-week moderate-intensity lifestyle intervention can prevent gestational diabetes among pregnant women at high risk in this region.

Patients and methods: A pragmatic, open-label, randomized clinical trial was conducted. Sixty-three women aged 18 to 45 years, with ≤12 weeks of gestation, singleton pregnancy, and having ≥ two risk factors for GDM were randomly assigned to the Lifestyle Intervention (LI) group (n = 30) or Usual Care (UC) group (n = 33). The women in the LI group received a 12-week, moderate-intensity lifestyle intervention with individualized counseling on a diet, physical activity, and behavior change by a licensed dietitian. The women in the UC group received usual antenatal care. The primary outcome was the incidence of GDM based on the IADPSG criteria at 24-28 weeks of gestation.

Results: The incidence of GDM was 33.3% in LI group and 57.5% in UC group. The crude relative risk (RR) for GDM was 0.59 (95% CI, 0.32-1.04, p = 0.05). The multivariable logistic regression model without adjustment showed OR = 0.37 (95% CI, 0.13-1.02, p = 0.05) and after adjusting with Age, BMI and family history of diabetes reported OR = 0.26, 95%CI 0.07, 0.92, p = 0.04. in LI vs UC. The daily dietary intake of calories (- 120 kcal, p = < 0.01), carbohydrates (- 19 g, p < 0.01), and fat (- 5 g, p = 0.03) was reduced, and physical activity time (+ 52 min, p = 0.05) increased in the LI group after the intervention. However, the LI had no significant effect on maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Conclusion: A 12-week moderate intensity lifestyle intervention in early pregnancy could reduce the relative risk of GDM by 41% among high-risk pregnant women in the UAE. These findings could impact public health outcomes in the region.

Trial registration: Trial registration Retrospectively registered NCT04273412,18/02/2020.

Keywords: Dietary; Gestational diabetes mellitus; Type 2 diabetes; United Arab Emirates.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Consort flow chart of the study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Diabetes Association; 2. Classification and Diagnosis of Diabetes: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2018. Diabetes Care 1 January 2018; 41 (Supplement_1): S13–S27. - PubMed
    1. Saeedi M, Cao Y, Fadl H, et al. Increasing prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus when implementing the IADPSG criteria: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2021;172:108642. doi: 10.1016/j.diabres.2020.108642. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Agarwal M, Dhatt G, Othman Y. Gestational diabetes: differences between the current international diagnostic criteria and implications of switching to IADPSG. J Diabetes Complicat. 2015;29:544–549. doi: 10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2015.03.006. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Plows JF, Stanley JL, Baker PN, Reynolds CM, Vickers MH. The pathophysiology of gestational Diabetes mellitus. Int J Mol Sci. 2018;19(11):3342. doi: 10.3390/ijms19113342. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gestational Diabetes. International Diabetes Federation. Updated 7 January,2020. Accessed 7 Feb 2022. https://www.idf.org/our-activities/care-prevention/gdm

Publication types

Associated data