A Study on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and its Effect on Neonates in Bangladesh

Abstract

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is a common metabolic disorder that occurs during pregnancy. GDM can cause significant problems, including maternal complications, perinatal complications, and metabolic disorders in offspring of mothers with GDM. The primary management method for women with GDM is nutritional therapy. Some women with GDM require diet therapy alone, while some women require both diet therapy and insulin therapy. The present study was aimed to assess the prevalence of (GDM) among the pregnant women in different districts of Bangladesh, and to find out the consequences or effects of GDM on pregnancy. The data were collected from 150 pregnant women from hospital located in Tongi, Narayanganj and Naogaon using a structured questionnaire. The prevalence of GDM was 18.67%. This present study also shows that, most of the patients (64%) had a history of diabetes in their family, very few patients (29%) had knowledge about diabetes in the past and they mostly took Insulin (57.14%) and Metformine HCl (42.86%) for managing GDM. All of the patients underwent caesarean section (100%) and 35.71% gave birth to a macrosomic baby. Among the patients, about 57% of them have had knowledge about GDM and 86% of them did exercise regularly. Most of the women (64.29%) had no other complication during their pregnancy period but 17.86% had pre-eclampsia during gestational period. Almost 64.29% of the babies were full term and 34.71% were not full term. Among them, premature babies were 60% and 40% were postmature. Diabetes prevention initiatives should be given high priority to avoid high rates of GDM in the future. But the gigantic problem of GDM cannot be solved by Government alone, so public awareness is the best way to reduce the prevalence and risk factors associated with GDM.