title: Screening for gestational diabetes mellitus: a prospective study in a tertiary care institution of North India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to determine the relevance of universal screening for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in the patients attending the antenatal clinic of a tertiary institute of North India.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective study conducted on 700 pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic of Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi at or before 24 weeks of gestation. All patients underwent screening with a 50-g 1-h glucose challenge test at 24-28 weeks of gestation. The women with an abnormal glucose challenge test subsequently underwent a diagnostic 3-h oral glucose tolerance test. All the patients were followed up till delivery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 700, thirteen patients were lost to follow up and hence the final outcomes were measured on 687 patients. Out of 687, 613 patients (89.2%) had a normal glucose challenge test value, that is, <140 mg%, and 74 (10.8%) had a glucose challenge test value ≥140 mg%. On the subsequent oral glucose tolerance test, 64 (9.3%) had normal values and only 10 (1.5%) had an abnormal oral glucose tolerance test, that is, GDM.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With such a low prevalence rate it appears to be unjustified to recommend universal screening for GDM. These findings may be considered as a basis for conducting larger, multicentric studies to establish the prevalence rate of GDM before deciding on a policy for screening.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Reva
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tripathi
authors.forename: Nalini
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tolia
authors.forename: Vinod Kumar
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Yedla Manikya
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Mala
authors.forename: Siddarth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramji
authors.forename: Shakun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tyagi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors