Pregnancy is a happy process, but during this period pregnant mothers need to suffer from both psychological and physical discomfort, such as edema, vomiting, etc. Some pregnant mothers also accidentally become “sugar mothers”. Most patients believe that gestational diabetes is related to excessive sugar consumption or over-nutrition during pregnancy, but the clinical causes of gestational diabetes are not limited to this. In this article, we will focus on 7 risk factors for gestational diabetes, and hope to bring help to expectant mothers during pregnancy.
1. Age factor
Some reports show that the prevalence of gestational diabetes in pregnant women over the age of 35 is about two times more than that of pregnant women younger than 25. Possible factors are that as we age, insulin receptors and insulin affinity decrease, and that older pregnant women are prone to obesity, which can aggravate insulin resistance.
The physiological function of older women decreases, the maternal body adapts to the needs of fetal growth during pregnancy, the physiological systems change, the organ load increases, and the metabolism is enhanced, which also easily leads to the occurrence of gestational diabetes.
2, pre-pregnancy overweight and obesity (especially heavy obesity)
The probability of gestational diabetes in obese women is about 5 times that of normal pregnant women, which may be related to obesity with higher glucose intolerance and insulin resistance.
3, excessive weight gain during pregnancy
With the increasing intake of calories and nutrients, physical activity during pregnancy decreases, resulting in excessive and rapid weight gain during pregnancy, which can lead to an increase in the incidence of gestational diabetes.
Warm tip: weight should be controlled at 1-1.5kg in early pregnancy, 0.4-0.5kg/week in mid-pregnancy, and about 1.5-2kg/month in late pregnancy, and strive to control the total weight gain below 12.5kg throughout pregnancy.
4. Family history of diabetes
Several studies have shown that family history of type 1 or type 2 diabetes has the greatest influence among various risk factors for gestational diabetes and may be related to diet, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, etc.
In studies comparing maternal or paternal family histories, most findings support that mothers with diabetes are more likely to have offspring with abnormal glucose tolerance.
5. History of abnormal delivery
Pregnant women with a previous history of obstetric malpractice, such as malformation, miscarriage, stillbirth, and a history of previous delivery of congenital malformations, giant babies, and embryonic arrest, or women who have had gestational diabetes mellitus are significantly more likely to develop gestational diabetes mellitus when they become pregnant again.
6. Race
The prevalence of gestational diabetes is significantly higher in Asian women than in Caucasian women, as confirmed by a large amount of epidemiological data on immigration.
7.Eating habits
The occurrence of gestational diabetes can be influenced by excessive or inappropriate nutritional intake of pregnant women due to unreasonable diet during pregnancy. A survey on the dietary habits of pregnant women in China showed that dietary patterns of high caloric energy, high fat, sweet tooth and long full meals can increase the risk of gestational diabetes.
The quality of maternal and perinatal survival will be improved by paying attention to the risk factors of gestational diabetes, especially the controllable factors, such as paying attention to pre-pregnancy weight control, effective control of weight gain during pregnancy, balanced and reasonable diet, and active aerobic exercise.
References
[1] Lan Yu. Analysis of risk factors for the development of diabetes mellitus after delivery in gestational diabetes mellitus[J]. China Medical Guide, 2012, 10(17):416-417.