Maternal age and screening for gestational diabetes mellitus in nepalese women

Gestational diabetes mellitus is the most common metabolic complication of pregnancy, and causes fetal mortality and morbidity. The prevalence of gestational diabetes is increasing all over the world. Worldwide prevalence is estimated to be between 2.8% (in Washington DC, USA) and 22% (in Sardinia, Italy). In our study, oral glucose tolerance test was done after fasting plasma glucose in 2336 pregnant women of different age groups (15-25, 26-35 and 36-45 years). Out of 2336 subjects, 112 patients (4.8%) were selectively diagnosed as gestational diabetes mellitus and another 112 subjects were included as normal subjects in this study. The values of fasting and 1 hour post glucose load in all three maternal age groups were 102.10±4.63, 106.37±7.06, 110.8±8.9 and 205.07±3.19, 205.60±4.06, 226.1±5.23 respectively, which were significantly higher with that of normal subjects (p=0.000). Results of our study indicates that rate of gestational diabetes mellitus has an increasing notion in Nepalese women. The main factor responsible for this increasing trend of gestational diabetes in Nepalese women may be due to the modern trend of either delay marriage or early marriage.