Diabetes Health in the News Podcast: Gestational Diabetes Linked With Assisted Reproduction

November 6, 2015 Nadia Al-Samarrie

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Researchers have found that assisted reproductive technology can increase an expectant mother’s risk of developing gestational diabetes by 30%. The French researchers leading the study found that about 14% of mothers who experience spontaneous pregnancies are diagnosed with gestational diabetes. On the other hand, women who used assisted reproduction in getting pregnant had a rate of gestational diabetes of 17.6%. However, it should be noted that the study did not take confounding factors like twin pregnancies or age into account.

The takeaway from this study is that women who receive assisted reproduction services should be screened early on for gestational diabetes. This holds true if the expectant mother previously had no risk factors for the disease.

These findings were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting in September 2015.