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. 2024 Mar 13:17:1309-1319.
doi: 10.2147/DMSO.S447855. eCollection 2024.

Missed Diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Due to Selective Screening: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study in the West Nile Sub-Region, Uganda

Vincent Abindu  1 , Derick Hope  2 , Mary Aleni  1 , Monicah Andru  1 , Richard Mangwi Ayiasi  3 , Victor Afayo  4 , Caesar Oyet  5 , Ritah Kiconco  6   7
Affiliations

Missed Diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Due to Selective Screening: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study in the West Nile Sub-Region, Uganda

Vincent Abindu et al. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. .

Abstract

Purpose: To ascertain the prevalence and risk factors of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in pregnant women receiving antenatal care (ANC) services within the West Nile subregion of Uganda.

Patients and methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 233 pregnant women who are within 24-28 weeks of gestation and are receiving ANC services in selected hospitals. GDM was diagnosed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria (2013). A questionnaire and anthropometric measurements were used to obtain relevant data. The chi-square test and logistic regression were used to determine the association between GDM and the study variables, including participants' sociodemographic and medical characteristics.

Results: The prevalence of hyperglycemia first detected in pregnancy among the participants tested was 8%. Overall, 7.45% had GDM and 0.53% had diabetes mellitus in pregnancy. The fasting plasma glucose test alone was positive in 86.7% of the GDM cases. The factors that were significantly associated with GDM included age ≥25 years (p = 0.017, AOR = 3.51) and body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2 (p = 0.024, AOR = 2.67). Out of the participants diagnosed with GDM, 28.6% did not have a known risk factor. Of the pregnant women with GDM, 57% would have been missed if the selective screening in the national clinical guidelines had been followed. Urinary tract infection (UTI) and Candida were detected in 36.36% and 13.85% of the participants, respectively.

Conclusion: The study provides new data on the prevalence of GDM in rural settings in the West Nile subregion of Uganda. Of the participants, 7.5% were diagnosed with GDM, of which 57% would have been missed based on the selective screening of the national clinical guidelines. The study findings support the universal screening of GDM in pregnant women.

Keywords: gestational diabetes mellitus; prevalence; risk factors; selective screening.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A bar graph showing the variation in blood pressure of the study participants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A pie chart showing the prevalence of hyperglycemia first detected in pregnancy among the study participants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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