According to new research, pregnant women who had diabetes during a previous pregnancy can develop the disease again in the following pregnancies.
Women with diabetes studied were 13 times more likely to develop the disease again in the second pregnancy than women without previous gestational diabetes. In the third pregnancy, the risk with two previous gestations with diabetes grew 26 times.
Gestational diabetes appears towards the end of pregnancy and increases the level of blood sugar due to an alteration of insulin, which can cause alterations in the health of the baby or the mother.
The study has been conducted by researchers from the Southern California Medical Group of Kaiser Permanente, in Pasadena, United States and their results published in the "American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology."
The team studied the first two pregnancies of some 65,000 women and the first three of 13,000 women attended at that health center between 1991 and 2008.
This study confirms previous conclusions of which we have already spoken to you, although their authors point out that, not taking into account lifestyle factors, such as body weight, limits the application of the results.
However, since overweight and obesity would favor the recurrence of diabetes during pregnancy, it is recommended that women at risk of developing type 2 diabetes receive information on the benefits of modifying diet, exercising and losing weight, including women with a history of gestational diabetes.
In any case, knowing that Gestational diabetes usually recurs in subsequent pregnancies, we must not neglect prenatal controls and medical recommendations to prevent or control it.
