Gestational diabetes; accuracy of glucose challenge test [GCT] for screening

ABSTRACT

To determine the Accuracy of GCT for screening of gestational diabetes in high risk population comparing oral Glucose Tolerance Test [GTT] as gold standard. Accuracy of GCT. Cross-sectional study. The study was conducted in outpatient department of Punjab Medical College and affiliated hospitals, Faisalabad. 207 patients. High risk women from outpatient department were recruited on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria after explaining pros and cons of procedure. These women were subjected to GCT and GTT. GTT was taken as gold standard test and results of GCT were compared with it. Main outcome measures recorded and results obtained. Out of 207 women, GCT truly diagnosed 24 women as having diabetes [true positive] and 175 women were found to have normal glucose metabolism [true negative]. GCT failed to diagnose 5 diabetic women [false negative] and wrongly diagnosed 3 normal women as diabetics [false positive] against gold standard GTT. So GCT has diagnosed Gestational diabetes mellitus with the sensitivity of 82.7%, specificity of 98.3%, positive predictive value of 88.8%, and negative predictive value of 97.2% and accuracy of 96.1%. GCT is a simple, easy, convenient and sensitive test that has no limitation for time or prior fasting for gestational diabetes screening