title: Effects of telephone follow-up on blood glucose levels and postpartum screening in mothers with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a form of diabetes that occurs in pregnancy. GDM, defined as glucose intolerance, first diagnosed or initiated during pregnancy affects 1-14% of pregnancies based on various studies. Screening and early diagnosis and appropriate glycemic control can improve prenatal outcomes. Telephone follow-up seems to be a reasonable way for pregnant women follow-up. The present study evaluated the effects of telephone follow-up on blood glucose level during pregnancy and postpartum screening.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty mothers with GDM were enrolled in this clinical trial and randomly divided into intervention and control groups. All mothers were asked to check their blood sugar levels fivetimes daily. In intervention group, telephone intervention was performed for 10 weeks. In each follow-up, individuals were followed for insulin injections, diet, clinical tests and reminding the next visit. In control group, three times of telephone call was established to record blood sugar levels. Another telephone call was established at 6 weeks of postpartum in both study groups to evaluate the performance of the screening test for blood sugar.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of mothers was 30.9±5 years in the control and 30.7±5.1 years in the intervention groups In intervention group, mean level of blood glucose, 2 hours after lunch at 28 weeks of pregnancy was significantly lower than the control group (P<0.05). Mean differences in levels of fasting blood glucose between 28 weeks and 32 and between 28 and 36 weeks of pregnancy were significantly higher in the intervention than the control group (P<0.05). Rate of postpartum glucose screening test was significantly higher in the intervention group (P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of this study demonstrated that telephone follow-up could significantly reduce fasting blood glucose levels in mothers with gestational diabetes and also increased the rate of postpartum screening test.
authors.affiliation: MSc of Midwifery, Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. rezvan.khorshidi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Rezvan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khorshidi Roozbahani
authors.affiliation: PhD student of Medical Education, Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. geranmay@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Mehrnaz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Geranmayeh
authors.affiliation: MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. hantooshzadeh@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Sedigheh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hantoushzadeh
authors.affiliation: MSc of Biostatistics, Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. mehranab2000@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehran
keywords: Follow-up; Gestational diabetes mellitus; Postpartum screening; Telephone