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. 2024 May 15;9(2):e12086.
doi: 10.25646/12086. eCollection 2024 Apr.

Prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus in Germany: Temporal trend and differences by regional socioeconomic deprivation

Lukas Reitzle  1 , Christin Heidemann  1 , Laura Krause  1 , Jens Hoebel  1 , Christa Scheidt-Nave  1
Affiliations

Prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus in Germany: Temporal trend and differences by regional socioeconomic deprivation

Lukas Reitzle et al. J Health Monit. .

Abstract

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) increases the risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes. In 2012, a general screening for GDM was introduced in Germany.

Methods: The analysis is based on data from the external inpatient quality assurance for obstetrics from the years 2013 to 2021. Women with pregestational diabetes were excluded. GDM was defined either by documentation in the maternity record or by ICD diagnosis O24.4 during hospitalisation. We reported the prevalence stratified by year, maternal age and regional socioeconomic deprivation.

Results: The age-standardized prevalence of GDM continuously rose from 4.7 % in 2013 to 8.5 % in 2021. The increase was observed in all age groups. In 2021, this corresponded to 63,563 women with GDM. The prevalence was higher in highly deprived regions than in low deprived regions.

Conclusion: A steady increase in GDM prevalence and evidence of health inequalities emphasise the need for primary prevention strategies for GDM.

Keywords: Germany; Gestational diabetes; Pregnancy; Social deprivation; Surveillance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Temporal trend in the age-standardized prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus from 2013 to 2021; in percent (%) (n per year: Table 1) Source: External inpatient quality assurance for obstetrics at Institute for Quality Assurance and Transparency in Health Care (IQTIG) [13]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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