Usha Thachappilly1 , Vijayalakshmy R. S.2 , Sreedevi N. S.3 , Vijayalakshmy Moorkkattukara Thekkoot4 , Shajee Sivasankaran Nair5 , Sajith Vilambil6 , Sajeevan Kundila Chandran7
BACKGROUND Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is diabetes diagnosed for the first-time during pregnancy. Infants of diabetic mothers are prone to various neonatal adverse outcomes, including metabolic and hematologic disorders, respiratory distress, cardiac disorders, and neurologic impairment due to perinatal asphyxia and birth traumas, among others. METHODS This was a comparative study conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Institute of Maternal and Child Health, Medical College, Calicut. A total of 200 subjects were included in the study. The subjects were divided into two groups comprising of neonates of healthy 150 pregnant women with no history of GDM. The other group included neonates of 50 pregnant women with GDM. Cord blood sample was collected during delivery. Cord blood glucose was determined by the GOD/POD method. Birth weight of newborn was recorded following delivery. The obtained data was tabulated and analysed using appropriate statistical tests. RESULTS The mean birth weight of newborns of women with GDM was 2.96 Kg and mean birth weight of newborns of normal pregnant women was 2.81 Kg. Even though macrosomia was not observed in newborn of GDM in the present study, the birth weight is significantly higher in newborns of women with GDM (p-value <0.05). In newborns of women with GDM, the mean cord blood glucose was 73.74 mg/dL and it was 77.86 mg/dL in newborns of controls. The difference was not statistically significant. There was hyper secretion of insulin from foetal pancreas in women with GDM to maintain normal blood glucose level in the foetus. CONCLUSIONS Birth weight of newborns of mothers with GDM was significantly higher than that of controls. Cord blood glucose values of newborns of mothers with GDM and controls show no significant difference.
