INCIDENCE OF PREGNANCY-INDUCED HYPERTENSION AMONG GESTATIONAL DIABETICS

Although hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are more likely to occur in pregestational diabetics, the question of whether they occur more f requently in gestational diabetics or certain subsets of gestational d iabetics remains unclear. This study compared 197 gestational diabetic s with 197 control patients matched on the basis of age, race, parity, and prepregnancy weight. No significant difference was found between the two groups in the incidence of either pregnancy-induced hypertensi on or preeclampsia. There was, however, a small but significant elevat ion in mean arterial blood pressure in the third trimester in gestatio nal diabetics compared with control patients (90.1 versus 87.5 mm Hg; p = 0.006). Mean arterial pressures were also higher in diabetic patie nts on insulin compared with those on diet, and higher in diabetic pat ients diagnosed early (less than 24 weeks) compared with those diagnos ed late (more than 24 weeks) in pregnancy; however, there were larger numbers of chronic hypertensives in these two groups. We conclude that gestational diabetics do not develop pregnancy-induced hypertension m ore frequently. Small increases in blood pressure late in pregnancy in these patients achieve statistical significance, but their clinical r elevance is unclear.