Researchers are seeking to find a better model for predicting which women are most at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes following gestational diabetes while pregnant. Gestational diabetes is a temporary form of diabetes that develops in pregnant woman, but that can turn into Type 2 diabetes permanently for some, according to a report from the journal Diabetes Care.
In a study of 605 Caucasian women with gestational diabetes, researchers found that women with at least two or more risk factors for Type 2 diabetes were four times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes. People with Type 2, which is the most common form of the disease, become insulin resistant and have to take medicine to direct the body to properly use the insulin the body is producing or that they are injecting into their body. Risk factors include obesity, whether or not the woman required insulin to treat her gestational diabetes and the age of the fetus (less than 24 weeks) at the time of diagnosis of gestational diabetes.
More than one in five (21.8%) of women in the study showed unusual glucose tolerance 13 weeks after giving birth. The study showed that the bulk (86%) of women with impaired glucose tolerance had at least two of the risk factors for developing Type 2.
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