Gestational diabetes mellitus and obesity: an experience at a teaching hospital in Bahawalpur, Pakistan

ABSTRACT

To compare the frequency of gestational diabetes mellitus in second and third trimester in obese and non-obese women. It was a prospective study conducted at Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Bahawal Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur. Sixty two obese and 62 non-obese women having singleton pregnancy were included in the study at their booking visit at tilde 14-20 weeks of gestation. Women having family history of obesity and chronic ailments and those with age >35 or parity > 5 were excluded. Mean age was 28.12 +/- 2.72 years among the group of obese women as compared to 27.89 +/- 2.34 years in non-obese group. Commonest parity among the obese women was 3-4 [n=31, 50%] compared to 46.8 % [n=29] in non-obese group. Development of gestational diabetes mellitus was 22.58% [n=14] in obese group which was significantly higher than 6.45% [n=4] in non-obese group [p=0.001]. Gestational diabetes mellitus developed in significantly higher number of obese women as compared to non-obese women