Gestational diabetes and screening during pregnancy.
The oral glucose tolerance test is an unreliable test in screening for diabetogenic fetal disease. In diabetogenic fetopathy due to gestational diabetes (White class A diabetes), the insulin content in the umbilical cord blood as well as in the fetal urine is considerably raised. As increased amounts of insulin pass into the amniotic fluid via the fetal urine, the fetal disease can be diagnosed from the amniotic fluid insulin content. In 75 pregnant women with potential diabetes, the blood sugar value was below 160 mg/dL at maximum under glucose loading in 28 patients; it was over 200 mg/dL in 25 patients. However, diabetogenic fetopathy was present in only 14 patients. The endangered and the healthy fetus could be distinguished in each case by amniotic fluid insulin content. The mean amniotic fluid insulin values in diabetogenic fetopathy were about seven times the normal.
D000653:Amniotic Fluid / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000032:analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D011254:Pregnancy in Diabetics / Q000175:diagnosis*
D007328:Insulin