Gestational diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance during pregnancy. Long-term effects on obesity and glucose tolerance in the offspring.

The effects of disturbances in carbohydrate metabolism during gestation were studied in the offspring of 1049 Pima Indian women who had no previous diagnosis of diabetes. Rates of fetal and maternal complications of pregnancy among women with diabetes first diagnosed during the pregnancy were similar to those among women in whom diabetes was recognized before gestation. Offspring, aged 5-19 yr, of women with abnormal glucose tolerance during pregnancy had a higher mean percent desirable weight and a higher mean postchallenge plasma glucose concentration than did offspring of women with normal glucose tolerance. Percent desirable weight and glucose concentration, however, were both lower than found in offspring of women with diabetes diagnosed before the pregnancy. Thus, metabolic events during pregnancy, as indicated by the detection of abnormal glucose tolerance during gestation, appear to have long-term effects on obesity and glucose tolerance in the offspring.