Gestational diabetes mellitus in teenage pregnancy: a case-control study

In a retrospective study, teenage Asian pregnancies with gestational diabet es managed over a 4-year period were compared with a group of age and parit y matched controls (2 for each study case) to determine the incidence of ge stational diabetes and its impact on the pregnancy outcome. The incidence o f gestational diabetes in teenage pregnancy was 5.4 % (33/611), and account ed for 1.4 % of all the cases of gestational diabetes. There was no differe nce in the maternal anthropometric parameters or antenatal complications, b ut the study group had a higher incidence of postpartum haemorrhage (p = 0. 010), greater amount of estimated blood loss at delivery (p = 0.016), a tre nd towards a higher incidence of large-for-gestational age infants, a highe r incidence of admission to the neonatal unit (p = 0.024), mostly due to me conium-stained liquor for observation (p 0.014), and a tower first minute A pgar score (p = 0.012). Our findings support the recommendation that in eth nic groups with a high prevalence of diabetes, universal as opposed to age- limited screening for gestational diabetes should be undertaken. (C) 1998 J ohn Wiley & Sons, Ltd.