SUGAR: Spotting Undiagnosed Glucose Abnormal Results—A New Protocol To Increase Postpartum Testing Among Women With Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Objective Over 70% of women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) will develop diabetes mellitus (DM), but only 30% follow through with the recommended postpartum oral glucose tolerance testing (OGTT). HbA_1c is approved to diagnose DM, and combined with a fasting plasma glucose it can identify 93% of patients with dysglycemia. We tested the hypothesis that a single blood draw to assess for dysglycemia at the postpartum visit could improve testing rates compared with those required to obtain an OGTT at an outside laboratory.

Study Design Prospective cohort study of all women with GDM who delivered between July 2010 and December 2011. When insurance status required testing at an outside laboratory an OGTT was ordered, when insurance allowed testing at our center a random sugar and HbA_1c were drawn at the postpartum visit (SUGAR Protocol).

Results Of the 40 women, 36 attended a postpartum visit. In the SUGAR arm, 19 of 19 (100%) were tested versus 9 of 17 (53%) in the OGTT arm; relative risk of testing was 1.9 (95% confidence interval, 1.2–3.0). 36% were glucose intolerant.

Conclusion This pilot study found that an in-office testing model doubled the rate of postpartum testing in this clinic population, and was reasonably sensitive at detecting dysglycemia.

Keywords

gestational diabetes mellitus - glucose intolerance - postpartum testing - pregnancy

Note

This article was selected for oral presentation at the 2012 International Society of Obstetric Medicine, Oxford, United Kingdom.

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