Screening for Gestational Diabetes: Usefulness of Clinical Risk Factors

In a study of 924 pregnant Iranian women, researchers found that age, pre-pregnancy BMI, and family history of diabetes were significant independent predictors of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Using a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), they determined that the risk of GDM varied based on these factors, with the lowest risk being 0.008 in younger, lower BMI, and no family history group, and the highest risk being 0.250 in older, higher BMI, and positive family history group. The study suggested that selective screening based on these risk factors could reduce the number of screening tests by 13.6% while potentially missing only 1.5% of GDM cases. The prevalence of GDM in the study population was 7.4%. The study acknowledged limitations such as a small sample size for investigating pregnancy outcomes and the use of unvalidated scores, recommending further research with larger sample sizes and long-term follow-up.