title: Return for Postpartum Oral Glucose Tolerance Test Following Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.
abstract: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence and characteristics of women who received a postpartum oral glucose tolerance test and to examine barriers as reported by women who failed to return for the test. Data were collected using a mobile phone-based short messaging service. Only 352 (81.9%) women returned for the test. Women who failed to return for the test were younger (30.1 vs 32.1, P = .003) and did not have a previous history of gestational diabetes (93.6% vs 84.9%, P = .043) compared to women who returned for the test. The commonest reasons given for not returning for the test was "Still waiting for the appointment date for the test" (37.2%), "had family/health problems" (11.5%), and "busy/no time" (10.3%). Flexible time for the test, active involvement from health care staff, and strengthening continuous care system were among the interventions needed to improve the return rate for this screening test.
authors.affiliation: Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, Kedah, Malaysia irzah96@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mohd Azri
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mohd Suan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008487:Medical History Taking; D011181:Postnatal Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D060145:Text Messaging
keywords: gestational diabetes; glucose tolerance test; maternal health; postpartum; text messaging