A multicentre study to investigate the prevalence of abnormal carbohydrate metabolism in Chinese pregnant women.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of abnormal carbohydrate metabolism in Chinese pregnant women. To study the inter-relationship between maternal body habitus, maternal serum glucose and birth weight of the baby.


METHODS
Multicentre observational study involving 713 pregnant Chinese women, attending antenatal clinics in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.


CONCLUSIONS
The overall prevalence of abnormal glucose tolerance was 6.9%. The prevalence was 6.8%, 5.5%, 7.2% and 8.1% in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, respectively. The differences among the centres did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.9). The mean ponderal index of women with abnormal glucose tolerance was significantly higher than that of women with normal glucose tolerance (15.2 vs 14.3, p < 0.01). The birth weight ratio of the babies was positively correlated with the maternal height (correlation coefficient 0.23, 95% C.I. 0.15-0.30), weight (0.32, 95% C.I. 0.25-0.39) and to a lesser extent, the fasting level of serum glucose (0.10, 95% C.I. 0.02-0.28) but not with the 2 hour level of serum glucose.
Lee
C P
CP
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Wang
Z Q
ZQ
Duthie
S J
SJ
Ma
H K
HK
Zhang
J Z
JZ
Zhou
S M
SM
Li
D F
DF
D001724:Birth Weight; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D001827:Body Height; D002681:China; D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy
D001786:Blood Glucose