One-hour versus two-hour postprandial blood glucose measurement in women with gestational diabetes mellitus: which is more predictive?

The purpose of this study is to investigate postprandial 1-h (PP1) and 2-h (PP2) blood glucose measurements' correlation with adverse perinatal outcomes. This prospective cohort study consisted of 259 women with gestational diabetes mellitus. During each antenatal visit, HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) as well as plasma glucose at PP1 and PP2 were analyzed. There were 144 patients on insulin therapy and 115 patients on diet therapy. A total of 531 blood glucose measurements were obtained at different gestational ages between 24 and 41 gestational weeks. PP2 plasma glucose measurements (but not PP1) were positively correlated with fetal macrosomia. But on adjusted analysis, neither PP1 nor PP2 measurements predicted perinatal complications. In addition to PP1 and PP2, neither FPG nor HbA1c were able to predict perinatal complications or fetal macrosomia when controlled for confounding factors except for a positive correlation between fetal macrosomia and HbA1c in patients on diet therapy. Postprandial 1-h and postprandial 2-h plasma glucose measurements were not superior to each other in predicting fetal macrosomia or perinatal complications. Based on our findings, it can be concluded that both methods may be suitable for follow-up as there are no clear advantages of one measurement over the other.