What Are Gestational Diabetes Risk Factors?
Gestational diabetes is a condition in which your blood sugar increases during pregnancy. Uncontrolled gestational diabetes can have negative effects on the unborn child.
It can cause the baby to be larger than normal and may even lead to a cesarean delivery. Babies with gestational diabetes also have higher risks of developing diabetes and obesity later in life.
Managing gestational diabetes is important to avoid pregnancy complications. Lifestyle changes and diet modifications may help women reduce the risks.
Women with gestational diabetes will need to be closely monitored throughout their pregnancy and after delivery. This condition often develops due to certain risk factors.
Women who are overweight or obese have a higher risk of gestational diabetes. Other risk factors include having a family history of the disease. People who have had gestational diabetes during a previous pregnancy are more likely to develop the condition again.
In this article, we are going to discuss the risk factors of gestational diabetes.
What Is Gestational Diabetes?
Gestational diabetes is a serious medical condition that can have negative effects on both mother and baby. It is a type of diabetes that women develop during pregnancy due to poor glycemic control.
If not treated, the condition can lead to a stillbirth. In addition, women with gestational diabetes have a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
However, it is possible to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes by losing weight and exercising regularly. Even after delivery, you may need to have regular blood glucose levels checked in order to monitor the condition and monitor your baby.
If you suspect you may have gestational diabetes, you should see a doctor to get diagnosed. The first step is a glucose challenge test. This involves drinking a glucose solution and then having your blood glucose level checked an hour later. If the result is less than 140 mg/dL, it is considered normal. If it is higher than that, you may have gestational diabetes.
Gestational Diabetes Risk Factors
Here are some common risk factors of gestational diabetes. You can control some of these factors to reduce your risk for gestational diabetes.
Gestational Diabetes During Previous Pregnancy
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that affects the way your body uses sugar. It can affect the health of both you and your baby, but with the right lifestyle, medication, and good nutrition, you can reduce your risk and have a healthy pregnancy. If you have ever had gestational diabetes, you are more likely to develop this condition during future pregnancies. Women who have had gestational diabetes in the past have higher chances of suffering from the same condition again. Not only is it dangerous during pregnancy, but it increases the risk of future type 2 diabetes.
Overweight Baby
Women who have gestational diabetes need to closely monitor their sugar levels. If they do not, their baby could be born with diabetes. This condition can have serious consequences for the unborn child. If you have given birth to a baby over 9 pounds of weight, you are more likely to suffer from gestational diabetes. As the pancreas is forced to work overtime, producing extra insulin to help the baby deal with high blood glucose levels, it often leads to gestational diabetes.
Age
If you are over 25 years old, you are at a higher risk for gestational diabetes. However, you can lower your risk by making lifestyle changes. These include eating healthy and exercising more frequently. In addition, if you’re overweight, you should try to lose some weight to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes. Although gestational diabetes generally goes away once the baby is born, women who have it are more prone to develop it in future pregnancies and may even have type 2 diabetes.
Family History of Type 2 Diabetes
If you have a family history of type 2 diabetes, you are at increased risk of developing gestational diabetes. You should regularly check your blood sugar during pregnancy to avoid complications. Although you do not necessarily need to have a family history of diabetes to screen yourself it is a good idea to monitor any changes in risk factors for the disease.
PCOS
Women who have PCOS have a greater risk of gestational diabetes than other women. The condition can lead to high blood sugar levels during pregnancy and cause problems for both the mother and her baby. Women who have PCOS should check themselves for this condition so that they can avoid unnecessary complications.
Ethnicity
There is not much data regarding the association between ethnicity and gestational diabetes. However, a recent study looked at ethnicity and the risk of gestational diabetes. The lowest rate was found for non-Hispanic whites and the highest for Asian Indians. Other studies have found that women of non-European, African American, American Indian, Native Alaska, and Hawaiian and Asian descent have a higher risk of gestational diabetes than those white women.
What Are the Warning Signs of Gestational Diabetes?
Gestational diabetes can have negative effects on the baby, and it’s very important to monitor blood sugar levels during pregnancy and after delivery. Women who have gestational diabetes should have their blood sugar levels checked regularly.
One symptom of gestational diabetes is extreme thirst. Other common warning signs are fatigue and dry mouth. Most women don’t experience any signs of symptoms when suffering from gestational diabetes.
The only way to detect gestational diabetes is a blood sugar test. Women should undergo tests around 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy. One can perform a glucose tolerance test to measure insulin levels and blood glucose tolerance for diagnosing gestational diabetes.
