A new international study involving 23,000 women in nine countries suggests that more than twice as many mothers to be as previously thought will develop gestational diabetes.  This finding is based on new measurements for determining dangerous blood sugar levels for the mother and her unborn baby.  Previous guidelines to diagnose gestational diabetes were based on blood sugar levels that identified women at high risk for developing diabetes in the future. The guidelines weren’t related to risks to the baby or other risks...

The National Institutes of Health provided a  research grant of $2.4 million to  Sean Blackwell, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, to study the link between obesity and high-risk pregnancies caused by preeclampsia and diabetes. Medical News Today reports that researchers hope the observational study will provide them with a better understanding of the cause, diagnosis and history of preeclampsia and diabetes in pregnant...

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is calling for all pregnant women to be tested for gestational diabetes with a one-step oral glucose tolerance test, according to a recent article from MedPage Today. The group says the risk-based approach and two-step diagnosis process recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) is inadequate.  In fact, the group notes that risk-based screening can leave a large number of women vulnerable.  The IDF cited one study of risk-based screening in which half of the pregnant women...