A prospective study of diabetes in pregnancy and its impact on pregnancy outcome

Background: Diabetes complicating pregnancy has become common worldwide. However due to advances in the management of diabetes and its complications, there has been an overall improvement in the maternal and perinatal outcome. Diabetes occurs quite often during pregnancy even in unsuspected cases which can be either pregestational diabetes mellitus or gestational diabetes mellitus. Our objective was to study the impact of diabetes on pregnancy outcome. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted at department of obstetrics and gynaecology of a tertiary care centre over a period of 18 months (January 2019 to June 2020). All patients were subjected to detailed history and clinical examination followed by relevant investigations such as complete blood count, blood sugars, HbA1C, renal function test, liver function test, urine albumin/sugar/ketones including ultrasonography obstetrics, congenital anomaly scan and doppler study of uterine and umbilical artery. All the data was compiled in Microsoft excel-sheet and was subjected to appropriate statistical tests. Results: Incidence of diabetes was found to be 9.72 % in our study population which included gestational diabetes mellitus (77/107) as well as overt diabetes (30). Diabetes was found to be more common in overweight and obese patients (75.7%). Macrosomia (19.6%) followed by polyhydramnios (15.6%) was the most common complication seen in pregnancy complicated by diabetes. Most common neonatal complication seen was hyperbilirubinemia 19(17.75%) and respiratory distress 18 (16.82%) in babies born to diabetic mother.Conclusions: Pregnant women with diabetes have more maternal, fetal, and neonatal complications, with overt diabetic group being more prone to complications.