Q. Explain about Gestational Diabetes Mellitus ?

During pregnancy, a woman who does not have a history of diabetes, may develop high blood glucose or sugar. This is GDM. The diabetes may or may not continue after pregnancy. But women may become diabetic in later years. Hence, such women are to be screened periodically to know whether they have developed diabetes or not. This type of diabetes is diagnosed by doing Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT). In GTT, 75 gms of glucose is orally given to the individual. Then, the blood sugar level is checked. You will learn details about GTT in Block 2, Unit 1. In GTT, the values of less than 95 mgs of fasting; 180 mgs in 1 hour and 155 mgs in 2 hours are considered as normal for pregnant ladies. If any two readings have exceeded these values, then the women are reported to have GDM.