gestational diabetes

(noun)

gestational diabetes (or gestational diabetes mellitus, GDM) is a condition in which women without previously diagnosed diabetes exhibit high blood glucose levels during pregnancy (especially during third trimester).

Related Terms

Examples of gestational diabetes in the following topics:

  • Metabolic Changes

    • Protein and carbohydrate metabolism are affected during pregnancy and maternal insulin resistance can lead to gestational diabetes.
    • Maternal insulin resistance can lead to gestational diabetes.
    • Gestational diabetes (or gestational diabetes mellitus, GDM) is a condition in which women without previously diagnosed diabetes exhibit high blood glucose levels during pregnancy (especially during the third trimester).
    • Gestational diabetes is caused when the insulin receptors do not function properly.
    • Gestational diabetes generally has few symptoms and it is most commonly diagnosed by screening during pregnancy.

  • Physiological Changes

    • It can also decrease maternal tissue sensitivity to insulin and result in gestational diabetes.

  • Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension

    • There are many forms of pregnancy-induced hypertension (increased arterial blood pressure after 20 weeks gestation), of varying severity.
    • Gestational hypertension or pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) is defined as the development of new arterial hypertension in a pregnant woman after 20 weeks gestation without the presence of protein in the urine.
    • HELLP usually begins during the third trimester; rare cases have been reported as early as 23 weeks gestation.
    • Further, women with preexisting vascular diseases (hypertension, diabetes, and nephropathy) or thrombophilic diseases such as the antiphospholipid syndrome are at higher risk of developing preeclampsia and eclampsia.
    • In gestational hypertension, the muscle of the maternal blood vessels feeding the placenta is larger than it should be due to inflammation.

  • Prenatal Diagnostic Tests

    • ., amniocentesis (that can be done from about 14 weeks gestation up to about 20 weeks), and chorionic villus sampling (that can be done earlier: between 9.5 and 12.5 weeks gestation).
    • Women who have high blood pressure, lupus, diabetes, asthma, or epilepsy.
    • At about 6 weeks of pregnancy, an ultrasound dating scan may be offered to help confirm the gestational age of the embryo and check if a single or twin pregnancy exists, but such a scan is unable to detect common abnormalities.
    • The results of the blood tests are then combined with the NT ultrasound measurements, maternal age, and gestational age of the fetus to yield a risk score for Down syndrome, trisomy 18, and trisomy 13.

  • Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

    • Diabetes mellitus type 1 (Type 1 diabetes, T1DM, formerly insulin-dependent or juvenile diabetes) is a form of diabetes mellitus that results from autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas.
    • Eventually, type 1 diabetes is fatal unless treated with insulin.
    • The appearance of diabetes-related autoantibodies has been shown to be able to predict the appearance of diabetes type 1 before any hyperglycemia arises.
    • Type 1 diabetes is not currently preventable.
    • Untreated type 1 diabetes commonly leads to coma, often from diabetic ketoacidosis, which is fatal if untreated.

  • Adjustments of the Infant at Birth

    • Following birth, the expression and re-uptake of surfactant, which begins production at 20 weeks gestation, is accelerated.
    • At 27 weeks gestation, only 1% of a fetus' body weight is fat.
    • Similarly, an excess substrate can also lead to problems, such as infant of a diabetic mother (IDM), hypothermia, or neonatal sepsis.

  • Development of the Integumentary System

    • At 4 weeks gestation, simple ectoderm epithelium forms.
    • Epidermal ridges (e.g. fingerprints) begin to develop around 10 weeks gestation and are completed by 17 weeks gestation.
    • At 16 weeks gestation, the basement membrane folds.
    • At 20 weeks gestation, hair begins to grow from sebaceous glands, while sweat glands are formed from coiled cords.

  • Congenital Heart Defects

    • Known antenatal environmental factors that may lead to congenital heart defects include maternal infections (Rubella), drugs (alcohol, hydantoin, lithium, and thalidomide) and maternal illness (diabetes mellitus, phenylketonuria, and systemic lupus erythematosus).
    • As noted in several studies following similar body mass index (BMI) ranges, prepregnant and gestating women, who were obese (BMI ≥ 30), carried a statistically significant risk of birthing children with congenital heart defects (CHD) compared to normal-weight women (BMI= 19-24.9).

  • Urinary Incontinence

    • One of the symptoms of urinary incontinence is polyuria (excessive urine production) which in turn is caused by uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, primary polydipsia (excessive fluid drinking), central diabetes insipidus, and nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.
    • Polyuria (excessive urine production) of which, in turn, the most frequent causes are: uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, primary polydipsia (excessive fluid drinking), central diabetes insipidus, and nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.

  • Fifth Through Eighth Weeks of Development

    • Weeks five to eight of gestation develops the major organs, including the circulatory, nervous, and gastrointestinal systems.
    • Weeks five through eight of gestation are characterized by the development of the major organ systems, including the circulatory, nervous, lymphatic, and gastrointestinal systems.
    • Gestational age is the time that has passed since the onset of the last menstruation, which occurs two weeks before the actual fertilization.
    • Thus, the first week of embryonic age is already week three counting with gestational age.
    • By week eight of gestation, the embryo measures 13 millimeters in length.