Studies in Pregnant Women for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM)

The challange of diabetes during pregnancy is more delicate and greater than ever and health care professionals are facing it at all levels in the developing countries. There are no large-scale epidemiological studies available to define the magnitude of the problem in India. Indirectly, however, one can conjecture the potential magnitude. An urban diabetes survey in 1992 indicated a prevalence of 2.6% for diabetes mellitus and 9.9% for impaired glucose tolerance among reproductive women aged 20 to 34 years (Seshiah and Balaji, 2002); Interestingly, despite the highest pregnancy rates in India the only published report in this regard document 1.19% prevalence rate of diabetes among pregnant women (Kochupillai, 2002).