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
. 2024 Feb;41(2):e15247.
doi: 10.1111/dme.15247. Epub 2023 Oct 30.

Impact of a modified screening approach during the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis and outcomes of gestational diabetes mellitus: A population-level analysis of 90,518 pregnant women

Vichy Liyanage  1   2 , Olesya Barrett  3 , Deliwe Ngwezi  1 , Anamaria Savu  1   2 , Peter Senior  1   4 , Roseanne O Yeung  1   5 , Sonia Butalia  6 , Padma Kaul  1   2   4
Affiliations

Impact of a modified screening approach during the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis and outcomes of gestational diabetes mellitus: A population-level analysis of 90,518 pregnant women

Vichy Liyanage et al. Diabet Med. 2024 Feb.

Abstract

Aims: To provide real-world evidence on the uptake of and outcomes associated with the modified gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) screening approach offered during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the standard screening approach.

Methods: All pregnancies between 01 January 2020 and 31 December 2021, in Alberta, Canada, were included in the study. We examined GDM screening and diagnosis rates, and large-for-gestational-age (LGA) outcomes.

Results: Annual GDM screening rates were > 95% during the study time period. Overall, 84.7%, and 11.6% of the 92,505 pregnancies underwent standard and modified screening for GDM, respectively. The use of modified screening was the highest among deliveries in August 2020 (49.8%) which corresponded to the early first wave of the pandemic. GDM diagnosis rate was lower in the modified screening (7.4%) than in the standard screening (12.3%, p < 0.001) group. The LGA rates in the modified screening with GDM and the standard screening with GDM groups were 24.8% and 12.6%, respectively (p < 0.001). Women in the modified screening with GDM group were at a higher risk of having an LGA infant (adjusted odds ratio: 3.46; 95% confidence interval: 2.93, 4.08) compared to the standard screening with no GDM group.

Conclusions: The COVID-19 epidemic had no impact on screening for GDM. Women who underwent modified screening, based on HbA1c/random plasma glucose, had lower rates of GDM cases.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; diagnosis; gestational diabetes mellitus; large-for-gestational-age; screening.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Yamamoto JM, Donovan LE, Feig DS, Berger H. Urgent Update - Temporary Alternative Screening Strategy for Gestational Diabetes Screening During the COVID-19 Pandemic - The Joint Consensus Statement from the Diabetes Canada Clinical Practice Guidelines Steering Committee and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada. 2020:1-5. https://els-jbs-prod-cdn.jbs.elsevierhealth.com/pb/assets/raw/health%20a...
    1. Yamamoto JM, Donovan LE, Feig DS, Berger H. Temporary alternative screening strategy for gestational diabetes screening during the COVID-19 pandemic-the need for a middle ground. Can J Diabetes. 2022;46(2):204-206. doi:10.1016/j.jcjd.2021.08.008
    1. Vambergue A, Jacqueminet S, Lamotte MF, et al. Three alternative ways to screen for Hyperglycaemia in pregnancy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Diabetes Metab. 2020;46(6):507-510. doi:10.1016/j.diabet.2020.04.003
    1. Torlone E, Festa C, Formoso G, et al. Italian recommendations for the diagnosis of gestational diabetes during COVID-19 pandemic: position statement of the Italian Association of Clinical Diabetologists (AMD) and the Italian diabetes society (SID), diabetes, and pregnancy study group. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2020;30(9):1418-1422. doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2020.05.023
    1. Kasuga Y, Saisho Y, Ikenoue S, Ochiai D, Tanaka M. A new diagnostic strategy for gestational diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic for the Japanese population. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2020;36(8):e3351. doi:10.1002/dmrr.3351

LinkOut - more resources