A prospective cohort study of the relationship between unhealthy lifestyle and gestational diabetes mellitus / 中华疾病控制杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) among Chinese pregnant women and the distributions of unhealthy lifestyles. Exploring the association between these behaviors and GDM to provide some suggestions to GDM prevention. Methods Women who were enrolled by the Chinese Pregnant Women Cohort Study and delivered before the 31st December, 2018 were enrolled by this study. The characters of physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, tobacco exposure, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet and low sleep level were assessed by questionnaire and also the pregnancy complications. Binary Logistic regression model was adopted to analyzed the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Results A total of 3 162 women were enrolled in this study and 372 of them were diagnosed GDM. Single variable analysis showed that lack of leisure time physical activity (RR=1.015,95% CI=1.005-1.279，P=0.046) and low sleep quality (RR=1.019, 95% CI 1.004-1.196，P=0.047) were two risk factors of GDM. Compared with women who showed none of these unhealthy lifestyle, those who showed all six unhealthy behaviors had higher risk of GDM (RR=1.530, 95% CI 1.263-8.880，P=0.036). Conclusions The incidence of GDM among Chinese women was 11.76%. Lack of physical activity and poor sleep quality could increase the risk of GDM and the cluster of unhealthy lifestyles is associated with higher GDM risk. Adequate physical activity, no smoking and drinking, balanced diet and other healthy behaviors are important to GDM prevention.