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. 2025 Jul 15;14(14):4998.
doi: 10.3390/jcm14144998.

Diabetes Risk Perception in Women with a Recent History of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Secondary Analysis from a Belgian Randomized Controlled Trial (MELINDA Study)

Yana Vanlaer  1 , Caro Minschart  1 , Ine Snauwaert  2 , Nele Myngheer  3 , Toon Maes  4 , Christophe De Block  5 , Inge Van Pottelbergh  6 , Pascale Abrams  7   8 , Wouter Vinck  8 , Liesbeth Leuridan  9 , Sabien Driessens  9 , Jaak Billen  10 , Christophe Matthys  11   12 , Annick Bogaerts  13   14 , Annouschka Laenen  15 , Chantal Mathieu  1   12 , Katrien Benhalima  1   12
Affiliations

Diabetes Risk Perception in Women with a Recent History of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Secondary Analysis from a Belgian Randomized Controlled Trial (MELINDA Study)

Yana Vanlaer et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Background/Objectives: To evaluate diabetes risk perception in women with prior gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and prediabetes in early postpartum. Methods: Secondary analysis of a multi-center randomized controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of a mobile-based postpartum lifestyle intervention in women with prediabetes after GDM. Data were collected from the Risk Perception Survey for Developing Diabetes at baseline (6-16 weeks postpartum) and one year post-randomization. Logistic regression was used to analyze the difference between the intervention and control groups on diabetes risk estimation. Results: Among 165 women with prediabetes in early postpartum (mean age: 32.1 years, mean BMI: 27.3 kg/m2), 58.9% (96) adequately estimated their diabetes risk (moderate or high chance) at baseline. These women smoked less often [2.06% (2) vs. 10.3% (7), p = 0.034], reported less anxiety (11.6 ± 3.0 vs. 12.6 ± 3.5, p = 0.040), and reported fewer symptoms of depression [30.9% (21) vs. 15.6% (15), p = 0.023] compared to women who underestimated their risk. At one year, 58.3% (95) of all women adequately estimated their diabetes risk. In the intervention group, 50.6% (41) adequately estimated their risk at baseline, increasing to 56.8% (46) by the end of the intervention after one year (p = 0.638). In the control group, a higher proportion of women adequately estimated their risk at baseline [67.1% (55), (p = 0.039)], which decreased to 59.8% (49) at one year (p = 0.376), with no significant difference in risk perception between the groups at one year (p = 0.638). Conclusions: Almost 60% of this high-risk population adequately estimated their diabetes risk, with no significant impact of the lifestyle intervention on risk perception.

Keywords: gestational diabetes mellitus; glucose intolerance; prediabetes; risk perception; type 2 diabetes mellitus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of participants included in the Melinda study. RCT, randomized controlled trial; NGT, normal glucose tolerance; OGTT, oral glucose tolerance test.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Flowchart of participants included in the secondary analysis. RCT, randomized controlled trial; RPS-DD questionnaire, risk perception survey for developing diabetes questionnaire; U, underestimated the risk to develop T2DM (underestimator group: almost no chance and slight chance); A, adequately estimated the risk to develop T2DM (moderate chance and high chance).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Evaluation of diabetes risk perception from baseline (6–16 weeks postpartum) to one year after randomization. The McNemar test was used for the analysis of paired binary data. Data were paired for a total of 163 women. This is a summary of the percentage of women who adequately estimated their diabetes risk at baseline and at one year after randomization in the whole cohort, intervention group and control group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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