THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF DIABETES AND PREGNANCY IN THE US, 1988

OBJECTIVE-To determine the prevalence of pregnancy complicated by diab etes in a representative sample of the U.S. population. RESEARCH DESIG N AND METHODS-We analyzed data from a multistaged cross-sectional prob ability sample of live births recorded in the U.S. in 1988 for women 1 5-49 years of age. The main outcome measure was pregnancy complicated by diabetes. RESULTS-Diabetes was present in similar to 154,000 (4%) o f all pregnancies in the U.S. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) acco unted for 135,000 of such pregnancies (88%), non-insulin-dependent dia betes mellitus (NIDDM) for 12,000 (8%), and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus for 7,000 (4%). On average, the mothers with NIDDM (29.6 yea rs) and GDM (29.3 years) were older than mothers whose pregnancies wer e not complicated by diabetes (26.2 years; P < 0.05). In multivariate analyses, the odds of having a pregnancy complicated by GDM increased significantly with maternal age and body mass index. CONCLUSIONS-Pregn ancy is complicated by diabetes more often than was previously believe d. More frequent testing may further increase the apparent prevalence of GDM.