title: Effectiveness of a screening protocol for gestational diabetes in pregnant Spanish women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Screening for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and its treatment can reduce health risks for the mother and child. This study estimated the prevalence of undetected GDM in Tenerife Island, to determine the rate of dropout from the diagnostic protocol and to identify the features of the protocol that reduced its effectiveness.
  
  
  METHODS
  We calculated GDM prevalence and the breaches of the diagnostic protocol out of 12,084 pregnant women who started the GDM detection program during 2004-2006. The prevalence of protocol breaches was used to estimate overall prevalence of GDM for the study population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall prevalence of GDM was 6.4% (95% CI: 5.9-6.9%). Ten percent of them did not comply with the protocol. Noncompliant subjects were, on average, older (31.4 ± 5.7 vs. 30.0 ± 5.7 years, p < 0.001) and those with higher fasting blood glucose, 83 vs. 78 mg/dl (4.6 vs. 4.3 mmol/l) p < 0.001) than compliant subjects. About one third (30%) of the noncompliant women may be additional cases of GDM, which would increase the prevalence by 2.2% (95% CI: 1.9-2.5%) for an estimated total figure of 8.6% (95% CI: 8.1-9.1%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  One out of every three cases of GDM may escape detection among women who do not complete the GDM screening protocol.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Department, Nuestra Señora de Candelaria University Hospital, Tenerife, Spain. fmarbug@gobiernodecanarias.org
authors.forename: Francisco Martinez
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Bugallo
authors.forename: Cristobalina Rodriguez
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: Armando
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aguirre-Jaime
authors.forename: Gian Carlo
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Di Renzo
authors.forename: Nieves Luisa
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Gonzalez Gonzalez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose