[Intrauterine fetal death in pregnancies of women with preconceptional and gestational diabetes mellitus and of women without glucose tolerance disorders. Results of the perinatal registry of Lower Saxony, Germany].
OBJECTIVE
The prevalence of intrauterine fetal death as well as the relevant risk factors in pregnancies of women with preconceptional and gestational diabetes mellitus and non-diabetic women were investigated.


METHODS
The data of the Perinatal Registry of Lower Saxony between 1987 and 1999 for pregnancies of women with preconceptional diabetes mellitus (PDM, n = 3351), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM, n = 3954) and women without diabetes mellitus (non-diabetic pregnancies, NDM, n = 887,779) were retrospectively analysed.


RESULTS
Intrauterine fetal death occurred in 46 women with PDM (1.35 %), 32 women with GDM (0.79 %) and 2756 non-diabetic women (0.31 %). The odds ratio (OR, 95 % CI) for PDM vs. NDM was 4.468 (3.332 - 5.992; p < 0.01) and for GDM vs. NDM it was 2.595 (1.829 - 3.682; p < 0.01). The percentage of death, which occurs before the 32nd week of gestation, was 13 % in pregnancies with PDM, 12.5 % in pregnancies with GDM and 27.7 % in non-diabetic pregnancies. 50 % of fetal deaths in the PDM group, 43.8 % of those in the GDM group and 39.3 % of those in the NDM group occurred after the 36th week of gestation. The percentages of dead fetuses who were under the 10th percentile of growth (small for gestational age, SGA), in pregnancies with PDM, GDM and NDM were 15.2 %, 6.3 %, and 28.7 %, respectively. The percentages of dead fetuses above the 90th percentile of growth (large for gestational age, LGA) were 41.3 % (PDM), 37.5 % (GDM), and 8.7 % (NDM), (p < 0.01 for PDM vs. NDM and for GDM vs. NDM).


CONCLUSIONS
The risk of intrauterine fetal death in pregnancies of diabetic women is still increased. It seems that especially the LGA fetuses of diabetic mothers and SGA fetuses of non-diabetic mothers are at greater risk of intrauterine death.
Günter
H H
HH
Zentrum Frauenheilkunde der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover, Abt. I: Frauenheilkunde und Geburtshilfe, Carl-Neuberg-Strasse 1, 30625 Hannover. Guenter.Hansheinrich@mh-hannover.de
Tzialidou
I
I
Scharf
A
A
Wenzlaff
P
P
Maul
H
H
Hillemanns
P
P
D000328:Adult; D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000453:epidemiology*; D046689:Fetal Mortality; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011254:Pregnancy in Diabetics / Q000401:mortality*; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors