title: The impact of new national guidelines on screening for gestational diabetes mellitus.
abstract: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has important maternal and fetal implications. In 2010, the Health Service Executive published guidelines on GDM. We examined the impact of the new guidelines in a large maternity unit. In January 2011, the hospital replaced the 100 g Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) with the new 75 g OGTT. We compared the first 6 months of 2011 with the first 6 months of 2010. The new guidelines were associated with a 22% increase in women screened from 1375 in 2010 to 1679 in 2011 (p < 0.001). Of the women screened, the number diagnosed with GDM increased from 10.1% (n=139) to 13.2% (n=221) (p<0.001).The combination of increased screening and a more sensitive OGTT resulted in the number of women diagnosed with GDM increasing 59% from 139 to 221 (p = 0.02).This large increase has important resource implications but, if clinical outcomes are improved, there should be a decrease in long-term costs.
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Farah
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: O'Dwyer
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Kennelly
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Turner
mesh_terms: D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy