- Home
- About Us
- Future Health
- Future Communities
- News
- Hospitals
- Nurses & Midwives
-
Health & Wellbeing
- A-Z Service List
- Aged Care
- Alcohol and Drug
- Ambulance & Patient Transport
- Cancer Care
- Children and Families
- Community Health
- Disability
- Events and Activities
- Gambling
- HACC
- Creating Healthy Communities
- Housing
- Hospital Care
- Keeping Well
- Life Stages
- Mental Health
- Men's Health
- Multicultural Health
- North West Area Health Service
- Oral Health
- Palliative Care
- Public and Environmental Health
- Sexual Health
- Understanding Health Conditions
- Women's Health
- Young People
- Careers
- Contact
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GMD)
Gestational diabetes occurs in some women during pregnancy and almost always goes away after the baby is born. In pregnancy, the placenta makes hormones that help the baby to grow and develop. Gestational diabetes occurs because these hormones also block the action of the mother’s insulin. This is called insulin resistance.
When a woman is pregnant she uses 2 to 3 times more insulin than normal. However some women are unable to produce increased amounts of insulin to overcome the effect of the placental hormones and diabetes develops. When the pregnancy is over and the woman’s insulin requirements return to normal, the diabetic condition goes away.
Having GDM during a pregnancy shows that the woman has an increased chance of developing Type 2 diabetes at a later date. In order to prevent or delay this happening, it is important to stay fit and active, eat healthy nutritious meals and not to become overweight. To check for Type 2 diabetes any woman who has had GDM should have screening for diabetes every 1-3 years (depending on the results of their test).
Who is most likely to get gestational diabetes?
From 3 to 8 % of all pregnant women will develop gestational diabetes usually around her 24th to 28th week of pregnancy. However, women who are pregnant with more than one baby may develop GDM earlier in the pregnancy. Those most at risk include women over 30, who have a family history of Type 2 diabetes, who have had GDM in a previous pregnancy and are overweight.
Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are at increased risk as are certain ethnic groups including Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Middle Eastern and Polynesian/Melanesian.
Gestational diabetes is diagnosed with an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT). As the pregnant woman might not notice the symptoms of GDM (passing more urine, drinking more, increased tiredness) because they are often hidden by the normal experiences of pregnancy, it is important to ask the pregnancy care team to check for GDM. In Australia it is recommended that all pregnant women be screened for GDM.