A population-based survey of frequencies of self-reported spontaneous and induced abortions in Danish women with Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Danish IDDM Epidemiology and Genetics Group.
OBJECTIVE
Whether pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (Type 1 DM) have an increased risk of abortions is controversial. The aim of the present Danish population-based study of 33% of the Danish population was to describe the pattern of self-reported miscarriage and stillbirths from 1304 women with Type 1 DM.


METHODS
Data were obtained by questionnaire. The current age of the women was 20-65 years and their age at diabetes onset was 30 years or less.


RESULTS
The frequency of spontaneous abortions (SA) and induced abortions (IA) reported from women diagnosed with Type 1 DM prior to pregnancy was 17.5% (95% CI 15.5-19.9%) and 18.0%. (95% CI 16.0-20.0%), respectively. No significant differences in abortion frequencies before or after 1980 were reported. Previous findings of a decreasing stillbirth-rate in diabetic pregnancies during the last decades were supported.


CONCLUSIONS
The reported SA frequency of 17.5% (95% CI 15.5-19.9%) in pregnant women with Type 1 DM is higher than previously reported SA rates of 10-12% in Danish nondiabetic women and the SA rate is more than twice the SA rate found in a previous Danish study from a highly specialized obstetrical centre for diabetic women. These data suggest an urgent need for further improvement in the general management of Danish pregnant women with Type 1 DM.
Lorenzen
T
T
Steno Diabetes Center, Gentofte, Denmark. tove.lorenzen@dadlnet.dk
Pociot
F
F
Johannesen
J
J
Kristiansen
O P
OP
Nerup
J
J
D000028:Abortion, Induced; D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011254:Pregnancy in Diabetics; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires